Teaching Statistics for Research: some Recommendations Reflected from Praxis

Abstract

From the experience and practice of the author, this essay presents five recommendable aspects that would contribute to improve the teaching-learning experiences in statistics for research, object of this work. These are summarized in: 1) present statistics oriented towards research, not mathematics; 2) focus training on the research population and on the needs and decisions that it must make; 3) reduce the use of statistical tables; 4) rely on statistical software; and 5) contextualize statistics as part of an intertwined, multifaceted and complex reality. The literature and the recommendations of the American Statistical Association support those five aspects. Hence, the investigation concluded that statistics represent a relevant and useful tool for research communities, which face diverse challenges every day when trying to study the social phenomena of a complex world by nature.