An approach to inferential reasoning levels on the Chi-square statistic

Abstract

This paper presents an approach of progressive levels of inferential reasoning on the Chi-square statistic, going from informal to formal reasoning. The proposal is based on epistemic criteria retrieved from a historical-epistemological study of such statistic and the contributions of statistics education literature on inferential reasoning. In this regard, some theoretical and methodological notions from the onto-semiotic approach were used to identify meanings attributed to the Chi-square statistic throughout its evolution and development. The mathematical characteristics of those meanings are closely linked to the indicators of the levels proposed. The nature of the four levels on the Chi-square statistic allowed us to develop an initial approach to levels of inferential reasoning, which could be applied to other statistics such as z, student’s t and F.