Something strange and useless: service students' conceptions of statistics, learning statistics and using statistics in their future profession

We investigate the views of service students about statistics, learning statistics and using statistics in their future profession, based on information obtained from a series of interviews analysed using a phenomenographic approach. In previous studies, we have described statistics major students' conceptions of their subject and their learning. Our main conclusion is that, contrary to expectations, service students show the same range of variation in their views as do statistics major students. We examine the implications of our findings for the development of pedagogical approaches and learning materials that help students in such situations learn statistics effectively, and enhance their use of statistics as a tool in their future professional lives.