Perceptions Of Importance Of Statistics To Learning Economics In Secondary Schools

1.1 Background of the study

Statistics deals with collection, analysis, interpretation, presentation and organization of data. Applying statistics for example, a scientific problem, industrial or social, it is conventional to start with a statistical population or a random process model to study (Peter, Bickel, Kjell and Doksum, 2010). Statistics education is the practice of teaching and learning of statistics and the associated scientific research. Statistics is both a formal science and a practical theory of scientific research, and both aspects are considered in statistics education (Bickel, 2010).

On the other hand, statistics play an important role in research of almost any kind because they deal with easily-quantified data. Experts use statistics to understand large and complex sets of data. Statistics are also helpful with surveys, which legislators use to affect policy (Peter, 2010). Knowing how statistics work is important for fully understanding news reports.Large sets of data can be complex, and understanding what the data means requires advanced analytical tools. Statistics is a set of tools than can inform experts dealing with complex information.Understanding statistics helps people determine the meaning of statistics in the news and other fields. Knowing that one outlier can skew averages is important, and understanding the margin of error is essential when dealing with relatively small effects (Kjell, 2010).

However, since statistics are methodology necessary in the field of statistics and are used to collect, analyze and evaluate data, economics depends heavily on the use of statistics. Economics deals with how people behave with regard to the production and consumption of goods. As a social science, economics attempts to describe trends in consumer markets, such as wealth acquisition and transfer (Jegede, 2013). Moreover, there are various themes studied within both forms of economics, including costs, production, consumption, and the rationales behind individual, corporate, national and international trade. In order to develop hypotheses around the various topic areas, economists make use of statistics and are able to compare information. Economic statistics involve quantitative data that describe either past or present trends (Fraser, 2013). Statistics is useful in economics, as it is useful in many other disciplines, simply because it helps theorists / businessmen / evil-financial-corporations make predictions about the future for their own benefit (Doksum, 2010). Well, statistics helps economics a lot in that, statistics helps in giving a quantitative expression to economic problems, for instance,  if one says that there are many jobless people in Nigeria, it does not give  the clearer picture, whereas if one says that about 26% people of  are unemployed one gets the better idea (Peter, 2010).  It helps economists find a cause and effect relationship between two different sets of data. It likewise helps the Finance minister and other authorities in formulating economic theories and policies. Economists are able to do future planning on the basis of statistical studies. They can assess the future position of certain events (Jegede, 2013).

It is well known that economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services. However, perception is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the environment. Perception can be split into two processes. Firstly, processing sensory input, which transforms the low-level of information to higher-level information, for instance extracts shapes for object recognition). Secondly, processing which is connected with a person's concepts and expectations (knowledge) and selective mechanisms (attention) that influence perception. Perception depends on complex functions of the nervous system, but subjectively seems mostly effortless because this processing happens outside conscious awareness (Johnson, 2014).

Since the rise of experimental psychology in the 19th Century, psychology's understanding of perception has progressed by combining a variety of techniques. Psychophysics quantitatively describes the relationships between the physical qualities of the sensory input and perception. Sensory neuroscience studies the brain mechanisms underlying perception. Perceptual systems can also be studied computationally, in terms of the information they process. Perceptual issues in philosophy include the extent to which sensory qualities such as sound, smell or color exist in objective reality rather than in the mind of the perceiver (Ballard, 2014).

On the other hand, the importance of economics education goes far beyond the goal of improving an understanding of the basic principles of supply and demand and the workings of our economy. Students develop perceptions of their economic world at an early age, which, as they progress through the educational process, develop into attitudes and opinions about the subject of economics. Intended or not, teachers influence the direction of attitude development. By finding ways to teach students more about economics, teachers are contributing to improved attitudes toward the subject (Becker, 2012). By teaching basic economic concepts and applying them to classroom discussions of economic issues and institutions, teachers are not indoctrinating students, but providing a knowledge foundation for more informed student opinions and decision- making on vital issues. The more economics concepts students know, the more they like and value the subject and the more information they have about economic issues. Students who do not get the opportunity to learn economics and increase their economic understanding will probably never take much interest in the subject or in their economic world (Watts 2012).