Application of descriptive statistics for the analysis of student test results

Abstract

Statistics is an important component in solving applied mathematical problems because it provides tools and methods for analyzing and making rational decisions based on data. Descriptive statistics is an important tool for primary data analysis, helping to understand underlying characteristics and trends, which is a necessary step before performing more sophisticated statistical analysis. Descriptive statistics is based on measures of central tendency, such as mean, median, and mode, which are used in a wide range of applied mathematical problems. This work presents the analysis of the results of testing the knowledge of students in the discipline "Programming" for different groups of the Faculty of Information and Computer Technologies of Zhytomyr Polytechnic State University. Testing is an important tool in the educational process that helps ensure quality education and promotes student development. The purpose of the study is to identify academic groups of students with high and low results, as well as groups with large and small dispersion of scores. The study showed that the level of preparation of students differs significantly depending on the group. The best results were demonstrated by the students of the specialities of Computer Science and Cybersecurity, while the students of the speciality of Information Systems And Technologies have the lowest average scores and the largest spread of scores. For a better understanding of the results of the study, the data was visualized in the form of a box diagram, which displays the distribution of data through five main numerical characteristics (minimum, first quartile, median, third quartile, maximum). Based on the obtained results, it is possible to develop recommendations for improving educational methods and approaches that will contribute to improving the quality of the educational process. These steps are important for creating an adaptive and effective learning environment that meets the modern requirements and challenges of the educational process. The results of this study allow us to conclude that statistics in applied mathematics plays a critical role in various aspects of data analysis, modeling, optimization and forecasting, providing a scientific basis for solving practical problems in various fields.

Keywords

• mean
• mode
• measures of central tendency
• descriptive statistics