Lois Lane, Superman, and Iron Man: How Perspectives of Statistics Relate to Students’ Identities and Career Pursuits

Incoming university students’ unique experiences with and perspectives of statistics may shape their learning trajectories, recruitment, and retention in the discipline. We completed qualitative case studies with three first-year statistics majors. Each student shared their views of “who” statistics is to them, how they imagined a career in statistics, and recalled their prior experiences and motivations for studying statistics. We contrast the students and remark on how their varying experiences relate to perspectives on their chosen field. Results varied in the perceived nature and content of statistics, and experiences engaging with rich data sets were associated with more substantive perspectives of the discipline. Future research will use follow-up interviews to examine the trajectories of students’ changing perspectives, participation, disciplinary identities, and interests.