Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology
Undergraduate students’ proficiencies in solving bivariate normal distribution problems
Bosire Nyambane Onyancha 1 * , Ugorji I. Ogbonnaya 2
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1 University of South Africa, South Africa
2 University of Pretoria, South Africa
* Corresponding Author
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ARTICLE INFO

Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology, 2022 - Volume 4 Issue 1, pp. 20-34
https://doi.org/10.33902/JPSP.202212259

Article Type: Research Article

Published Online: 17 May 2022

Views: 2127 | Downloads: 2007

ABSTRACT
This study explored undergraduate students’ proficiencies in solving bivariate normal distribution (BND) problems in a Kenyan university. The study followed a case study design and qualitative research approach. One hundred and seventy-five undergraduate statistics students in a Kenyan university participated in the study. Data was collected using an achievement test. Content analysis of the students’ solutions to test questions revealed that majority of the students were not proficient in solving BND problems with respect to calculating; (i) the probability of a normal distribution given the mean and variance of a variable, (ii) the mean of a normal distribution given the variance and the probability of a variable, (iii) the mean and variance of the joint distribution, and hence the probability of the variable given the conditional distribution of a variable, and (iv) the mean and standard deviation of two random variables given a bivariate random density function. It is recommended that the basic statistical concepts relevant to learning the BND be thoroughly revised before formally teaching BND.
KEYWORDS
bivariate normal distribution joint distribution probability random variables statistics
In-text citation: (Onyancha & Ogbonnaya, 2022)
Reference: Onyancha, B. N., & Ogbonnaya, U. I. (2022). Undergraduate students’ proficiencies in solving bivariate normal distribution problems. Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology, 4(1), 20-34. https://doi.org/10.33902/JPSP.202212259
In-text citation: (1), (2), (3), etc.
Reference: Onyancha BN, Ogbonnaya UI. Undergraduate students’ proficiencies in solving bivariate normal distribution problems. Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology. 2022;4(1), 20-34. https://doi.org/10.33902/JPSP.202212259
In-text citation: (1), (2), (3), etc.
Reference: Onyancha BN, Ogbonnaya UI. Undergraduate students’ proficiencies in solving bivariate normal distribution problems. Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology. 2022;4(1):20-34. https://doi.org/10.33902/JPSP.202212259
In-text citation: (Onyancha and Ogbonnaya, 2022)
Reference: Onyancha, Bosire Nyambane, and Ugorji I. Ogbonnaya. "Undergraduate students’ proficiencies in solving bivariate normal distribution problems". Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology 2022 4 no. 1 (2022): 20-34. https://doi.org/10.33902/JPSP.202212259
In-text citation: (Onyancha and Ogbonnaya, 2022)
Reference: Onyancha, B. N., and Ogbonnaya, U. I. (2022). Undergraduate students’ proficiencies in solving bivariate normal distribution problems. Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology, 4(1), pp. 20-34. https://doi.org/10.33902/JPSP.202212259
In-text citation: (Onyancha and Ogbonnaya, 2022)
Reference: Onyancha, Bosire Nyambane et al. "Undergraduate students’ proficiencies in solving bivariate normal distribution problems". Journal of Pedagogical Sociology and Psychology, vol. 4, no. 1, 2022, pp. 20-34. https://doi.org/10.33902/JPSP.202212259
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