Linking academic knowledge and professional experience in using statistics: a design experiment for business school students

The aim of the empirical study presented in this paper is to explore how students link academic knowledge with workplace experience. I carried out a research study with a group of 36 business school students entering a 3-year masters level apprenticeship programme. In an introductory statistics course, I designed and implemented a four-step learning activity, based on an Exploratory Data Analysis approach and inspired by an authentic workplace situation. I report the findings of qualitative research based on the recorded discussions between students and the reports they wrote at each step in the experience. I found that three different forms of rationality—technical, pragmatic and scientific—led them to shape the problem differently. I observed that they hardly used statistical tools because pragmatic rationality which is linked to their experience as salespersons prevails, although access to a managerial approach suggests the use of more statistical knowledge.