Development of the Concept of Statistical Variation: An Exploratory Study

An appreciation of variation is central to statistical thinking, but very little research has focused directly on students' understanding of variation. In this exploratory study, four students from each of grades 4, 6, 8, and 10 were interviewed individually on aspects of variation present in three settings. The first setting was an isolated random sampling situation, whereas the other two settings were real world sampling situations. Four levels of responding were identified and described in relation to developing concepts of variation. Implications for teaching and future research on variation are considered.