Secondary School Students' Perception of Statistics

This bachelor’s thesis focuses on high school students’ attitudes toward mathematics and statistics. The main objective of the study was to determine how secondary school students perceive statistics—particularly in terms of its usefulness, applicability, and popularity—and which variables significantly influence this perception. The research draws on available data concerning students’ choices of graduation subjects and the admission requirements of selected universities in the Czech Republic. The investigation also included an assessment of students’ ability to interpret statistical outputs and identify misleading or manipulative graphs. The theoretical section describes the construction of a custom questionnaire, the formulation of hypotheses, and the data collection methodology. Original data collection was carried out, with the questionnaire being pilot-tested and subsequently distributed to students at grammar schools and secondary schools with technical and economic specializations. The data were then cleaned, and additional variables were defined. In the practical section, the collected data were analyzed primarily using non-parametric tests. Graphical visualizations of the data were also created. The findings revealed that students often hold a neutral or slightly positive attitude toward statistics. Respondents also showed difficulty in recognizing manipulative graphs and showed considerable gaps in knowledge of basic statistical concepts. Key factors influencing students’ perception of statistics were academic performance, gender, Excel proficiency, and programming ability. In contrast, grade level, school type, and graphical literacy were found to be statistically insignificant indicators. In the final part of the thesis, the results were compared with similar studies conducted at foreign universities. These comparisons indicated that students’ reservations about statistics are a globally shared phenomenon, largely unaffected by cultural differences. These findings may serve as a basis for reconsidering how statistics is approached in secondary education.