The evolution of a study and research path in Statistics

Abstract

We present the organisation of a first course in statistics for Business Administration degree students, which includes a study and research path (SRP) as an inquiry-based teaching proposal. The paper aims to summarise the course’s evolution, design, and reflections on its various components separately and together as a complete unit. The analysis considers three perspectives on the course: those of the students, the lecturer, and the researcher to provide a critical perspective. The discussion includes the joint evolution of the course and the SRP. Under the Anthropological Theory of the Didactic framework, we show that the design and management of the SRP cannot be detached from the course as a whole. We also see how the course components nourish the SRP and how this, in turn, drives the evolution of the course content and adapts it to the students’ professional needs. This inquiry proposal requires a multidimensional approach in both its planning and the dissemination of its outcomes in the research and professional literature. Therefore, our study can contribute to didactics research on SRPs and serve as a starting point for newcomers to inquiry-based teaching, and as a reflection to foster collaborations between researchers in didactics and lecturers