Educational Research - the Ethics and Aesthetics of Statistics

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70 N. Grube Data series reduce the complexity of social reality. Politicians, journalists and some scientists do not think about the genesis of data and the context of production. The data often provide the bedrock for various discourses, but debates on the construction of data are rare. There are only a few examples of occasions on which poll data are scrutinised in the public sphere. One is the medial critique about bad election forecasts, but this critique becomes ritualised. Another example is the 1986 debate about the genesis of a study by Allensbach on unemployment (Noelle- Neumann & Gillies, 1987). Even the German parliament discussed the reliability of the data. That said this rare degree of critical interest in polling results arose due to the parallel election campaign. Despite these critiques polls initiate and dominate public discourses because they enable intra- and international comparisons. Counting and measuring are the preconditions for comparison and this is the task of statisticians. As Jean Jacques Rousseau (1762/2006, p. 92) exclaimed, ‘Now, it’s your turn statisticians: count, measure and compare’. Comparisons can be seen as an instrument to calm political emotions and to eliminate alternative solutions so that the supposed ‘best group’ should serve as a model for others. This can be illustrated by 2002 polls about people’s satisfaction with the German school system following the publication of the PISA results. In the PISA test, pupils from Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg did better than pupils from Berlin and Northern Germany. In correlation with the PISA result, nationally published polls from Allensbach revealed agreement with PISA’s findings on Bavaria (Fig. 5.4), 40 35 30 25 35 20 31 15 26 10 5 21 20 18 17 9 0 "Very satiesfied, satisfied" Bavaria Northwestern part of Germany Hesse Northeastern part of Germany Thuringia, Saxony North Rhine-Westphalia Berlin Fig. 5.4 Satisfied with the German school system?
5 Constructing Social Unity and Presenting Clear Predictions 71 Table 5.2 International comparison of national pride ‘Are you proud to be German/French/English/American? Would you say you are ...’ West Germany East Germany France England USA 1991 (%) 2001 (%) 1991 (%) 2001 (%) 2001 (%) 2001 (%) 2001 (%) ‘Very proud’ 16 20 19 12 35 52 80 ‘Rather proud’ 41 42 43 45 46 35 18 ‘Not so proud’ 22 17 17 21 6 6 2 ‘Not at all 11 8 8 8 3 1 x proud’ Undecided 10 13 13 14 10 6 x Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach 2001/2002 but differed with regard to other federal states. The message in the year of the federal election was clear: the conservative school policy in Bavaria is successful and should serve as a model for others. Data charts enable comparison and comparison shall initiate competition. Therefore, one can say that polls make knowledge available for neo-liberal government policy. In the period of competing nation states and competing ideological systems during the Cold War, the international comparison was an important political instrument to show national efficiency, strength and performance. Various data were used to underline national superiority or to initiate reforms. This can be illustrated by the German discussion (that took place in the 1980s) on whether or not Germany was a weak nation compared to others (Noelle-Neumann & Köcher, 1988). This discussion became heated due to the alleged lack of national pride in comparison to other nations such as the United States, England and France (Table 5.2). Here the comparison of poll data led to an analysis of national deficits. Similar polls in the 1950s had construed national deficiencies in the process of reeducation and democratisation as I outlined before. 5.5 The Limits of Polls as an Instrument to Create the Great Communication Community Polls often present the respondents as incomplete human beings. This is because since the 1950s the interviews sometimes tended to examine elementary knowledge, especially when they were conducted for the government or politically engaged entrepreneurs. Such tests intensified the simplification of social reality. The respondents were examined on their mathematical, geographical or orthographical skills. They had to solve arithmetical problems like one-half plus one-tenth and were asked to indicate Germany on the map. They were tested to see if they could write words such as ‘telephone’, ‘credit’, ‘director’ and ‘rhythm’ correctly. 6 Recently pollsters
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Educational Research: The Ethics an
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Paul Smeyers · Marc Depaepe Editor
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Earlier Volumes in this Series Educ
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viii Contents 10 The Good, the Beau
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2 P. Smeyers and M. Depaepe their a
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6 P. Smeyers and M. Depaepe The cha
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10 P. Smeyers and M. Depaepe appear
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Chapter 2 The Lure of Statistics fo
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2 The Lure of Statistics for Educat
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2 The Lure of Statistics for Educat
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Page 52 and 53: 42 M. Depaepe Schneider, J. (2010).
Page 54 and 55: 44 J.J.H. Dekker (see Section 4.4).
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8 European Citizenship and Evidence
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130 U. Stadler-Altmann and E. Keine
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152 J.P. Van Bendegem et al. A good
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156 J.P. Van Bendegem et al. statis
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160 J.P. Van Bendegem et al. Van Be
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162 P. Smeyers to be told. Moreover
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164 P. Smeyers us’. It goes witho
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166 P. Smeyers at the basis of the
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168 P. Smeyers indeterminism, as we
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170 P. Smeyers are steps (a plan as
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172 P. Smeyers to the simple fact t
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174 P. Smeyers 6. The role of the a
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176 P. Smeyers conditions. It is in
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178 I. Munday etc. on a PowerPoint
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180 I. Munday To show how Derrida p
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182 I. Munday might talk of 20 bags
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184 I. Munday is unclear whether th
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186 I. Munday in numerals. This mig
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188 I. Munday We might also note th
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190 R. Smith ‘Statisticism’, on
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192 R. Smith identify, and twice in
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194 R. Smith of the final sentence
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196 R. Smith between admitting that
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198 R. Smith 7 www.equalitytrust.or
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200 R. Smith It is an interesting q
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202 R. Smith self-esteem, happiness
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204 R. Smith Reeves, R. (2009, Apri
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206 P. Standish Some students’ no
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208 P. Standish abstract ratio, wit
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210 P. Standish Rice $1.73 1 / 2 Mo
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212 P. Standish research none of us
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214 P. Standish of the products but
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216 About the Authors co-editor-in-
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218 About the Authors voor Wetensch
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220 Author Index Elkins, G. R., 190
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222 Author Index Silverman, J. G.,
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224 Subject Index I Inequality, 29-
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