Abstract:

Data visualization plays a critical role in introductory statistics courses in social sciences degrees. As an essential tool for exploring, analyzing, and communicating data, visualization helps students understand the underlying patterns and relationships in datasets and helps them communicate their findings clearly and concisely.

In particular, data visualization provides several benefits for students in social science courses. Firstly, it can help students identify trends and patterns in data that may not be immediately apparent from the raw data. This allows them to better understand variables’ relationships and identify potential outliers or anomalies.

Secondly, data visualization can help students develop their critical thinking skills. Students can learn to question assumptions, think critically about the data, and draw more accurate and reliable conclusions by visualising data in different ways and exploring different data sets.

Thirdly, data visualization can help students communicate their findings more effectively. In social science courses, students must learn to communicate complex ideas and data to a range of different audiences. Visualization provides a means of communicating these ideas, concisely, and visually appealingly.

Finally, data visualization is an increasingly important skill in today’s data-driven world. Employers are looking for candidates who can analyze and communicate data effectively, and students who develop their data visualization skills early on will be well-positioned to succeed in a range of different careers.

This study aims to present and discuss how social sciences faculties can incorporate data visualisation into teaching approaches in introductory statistics courses to strengthen students’ practical skills. Data visualization lessens difficulties in learning statistics by providing opportunities to illustrate analytical findings in graphic form, which is essential for learners with different learning styles. Familiarizing students with Excel, Python, R or other software in introductory statistics is beneficial in helping them attain statistical literacy by analyzing real-world data. Using such data equips students with knowledge of statistical implementation core skills in the business world.

Keywords:

Teaching, introductory statistics, data visualization.