Development of an Assessment of Quantitative Literacy for Miami University

Quantitative Literacy is a competence as important as general literacy; yet, while writing requirements are seemingly ubiquitous across the college curriculum, quantitative literacy requirements are not. The current project provides preliminary evidence of the reliability and validity of a quantitat...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Rose Marie Ward, Monica C. Schneider, James D. Kiper
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: National Numeracy Network 2011-07-01
Series:Numeracy
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.5038/1936-4660.4.2.4
Description
Summary:Quantitative Literacy is a competence as important as general literacy; yet, while writing requirements are seemingly ubiquitous across the college curriculum, quantitative literacy requirements are not. The current project provides preliminary evidence of the reliability and validity of a quantitative literacy measure suitable for delivery online. A sample of 188 undergraduate students from Miami University, a midsize university in the midwestern U.S., participated in the current study. Scores on the measure, were inversely related to statistical/mathematical anxiety measures, directly related to subjective assessment of numeracy, and did not differ across gender or year in school. The resulting measure provides a reasonable tool and method of assessing quantitative literacy at a midsize university.
ISSN:1936-4660