The Hospital Problem Revisited. Tertiary Students' perceptions of a problem involving the binomial distribution.

Abstract

This paper considers the intuitive solutions of 26 first year tertiary students to a binomial probability problem on entry to a statistics unit. For this problem a successful solution requires consideration of the sample size. On the basis of a Rasch analysis, students were classified into three groups according to their ability, and the reasoning they used compared. The problem was again posed at the end of the unit and the answers and reasoning used by the students were compared with their earlier responses.