Diving Deeper Into Categorical Data

The purpose of this research is to examine how 11–14-year-old students examine and make sense of authentic datasets that include two or more categorical variables. We created an afterschool program in which students explored existing data using the Common Online Data Analysis Platform (CODAP). Individual think-aloud interviews were conducted, during which students were questioned about relationships between variables while they used CODAP. We describe how students engaged in exploratory data analysis that involved comparing two or more categorical variables of interest, including complex comparisons in a large contingency table. This study is one of the first to examine understanding of categorical data that are not pre-structured.