Journal of Statistics and Data Science Education

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Teaching Statistical Inference Through a

Conceptual Lens: A Spin on Existing Methods with
Examples

Mortaza Jamshidian & Parsa Jamshidian

To cite this article: Mortaza Jamshidian & Parsa Jamshidian (2024) Teaching Statistical
Inference Through a Conceptual Lens: A Spin on Existing Methods with Examples, Journal of
Statistics and Data Science Education, 32:1, 54-72, DOI: 10.1080/26939169.2023.2190011

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JOURNAL OF STATISTICS AND DATA SCIENCE EDUCATION
2024, VOL. 32, NO. 1, 54–72
https://doi.org/10.1080/26939169.2023.2190011

Teaching Statistical Inference Through a Conceptual Lens: A Spin on Existing Methods

with Examples
Mortaza Jamshidiana and Parsa Jamshidianb
a
Department of Mathematics, California State University, Fullerton, Fullerton, CA; b Department of Biostatistics, University of California, Los Angeles, Los
Angeles, CA

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Using software to teach statistical inference in introductory courses opens the door for methods and Received October 2022
practices that are more conceptually appealing to students. With an increasing number of fields requiring Accepted March 2023
competency in statistics including data science, natural and social sciences, public health and more, it is
crucial that we as instructors deliver the basic concepts of statistics effectively. In line with guidelines pre- KEYWORDS
sented in the GAISE College Report, this article demonstrates intuitive approaches to teaching proportion Binomial exact test;
Constructing confidence
and mean inference that take advantage of statistical software and emphasize conceptual understanding. intervals; Introductory
The article recommends putting aside asymptotic-based methods for proportion inference and using the statistics; Inverting a test of
exact binomial method. Regarding mean inference, we propose a more contextualized and simplified hypothesis; Rguroo;
process that uses the distribution of the sample mean directly and avoids standardized statistics such Statistical software; Teaching
as z or t. In both the proportion and mean inference contexts, we discuss the benefits of the proposed mean inference; Teaching
approaches and provide detailed examples that demonstrate the methods using the Rguroo statistical proportion inference; Testing
software. hypothesis

1. Introduction Education Report (GAISE 2005) provided an impetus for an

exchange of ideas about teaching introductory statistics courses.
Recognizing the importance of statistics as a general education
This report was updated in 2016 (GAISE 2016) to account for
subject, many departments require students to take at least
significant spikes in enrollments and the availability of better
one statistics course. The Conference Board of the Mathemat-
technology and data. The GAISE College Report (2016) outlines
ical Sciences (CBMS) Report (Blair, Kirkman, and Maxwell
six recommendations on what to teach and how to teach courses.
2018) states that 253,000 students enrolled in introductory level
Two of these recommendations are to “focus on conceptual
statistics courses in Fall 2015 in the mathematics and statistics
understanding” and to “use technology to explore concepts and
departments in the United States, a 70% increase since 2005.
analyze data.” In this article, we aim to introduce methods for
Additionally, according to the College Board, 220,000 high
teaching proportion and mean inference to address both of these
school students enrolled in the Statistics Advanced Placement
recommendations.
(AP) exam in 2018, a 69% growth in enrollment compared to
The GAISE College Report and others (e.g., see Cobb 2006,
2005. There was a slight dip in the Statistics AP exam enroll-
2015 for other references) advocate using simulation-based
ments from 2019 to 2021, mainly attributed to the COVID-19
methods for teaching inference. However, simulation is not
pandemic.
currently at the forefront of methods used. We have searched
Recently, data science has emerged as a field that pays par-
20 mainstream introductory statistics textbooks (Gould, Ryan
ticular attention to its students’ statistical foundations. The
and Wong 2016; Rosner 2016; Agresti, Franklin, and Klingen-
National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine’s
berg 2017; McClave and Sincich 2017; De Veaux, Vellman, and
“Data Science for Undergraduates” consensus report (2018)
Bock 2018; Bluman 2019; Diez, Cetinkaya-Rundel, and Barr
puts forward various goals for data science students, including
2019; Hawkes 2019; Johnson and Gouri 2019; Peck, Short, and
understanding the “basic statistical concepts of data analysis,
Olsen 2020; Lock et al. 2021; Mann 2021; Tintle et al. 2021;
data collection, modeling, and inference.” Data science is just
Warren, Denley, and Atchley 2021; Moore, Not, and Fligner
one example of many areas of study in which competency in
2021a, 2021b; Navidi and Monk 2022a, 2022b; Quinton and
basic statistical concepts is essential. Other fields include the
Hawkes 2022; Triola 2022). Of these, 16 mainly use normal-
social sciences, natural sciences, business, and health sciences.
theory-based methods, and only De Veaux, Vellman, and Bock
This increased attention to statistics has encouraged inno-
(2018), Diez, Cetinkaya-Rundel, and Barr (2019), Lock et al.
vation and development of new pedagogy in the subject.
(2021), and Tintle et al. (2021) use simulation-based methods
The Guidelines for Assessment and Instruction for Statistics
for inference.

CONTACT Mortaza Jamshidian mori@fullerton.edu Department of Mathematics, California State University, Fullerton, Fullerton, CA.
© 2023 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by
the author(s) or with their consent.

While this article’s methods for teaching proportion and
mean inference do not include simulation, we give credence to
ideas included in Cobb (2015) and GAISE (2016) who recom-
mend using simulation-based methods to teach inference. How-
ever, adopting simulation-based methods in teaching introduc-
tory courses has been slow, perhaps because of the following
reasons: (a) Some instructors of introductory courses may not
have formal training in statistics or may be uncomfortable or
unfamiliar with simulation-based methods. According to the
CBMS 2015 report, over 60% of faculty who teach introductory
statistics courses in the Mathematics and Statistics departments
are not amongst tenured or tenure-eligible faculty. (b) Teaching
simulation concepts to introductory students requires a good
amount of class time. This time may not be available to instruc-
tors who must cover a set of topics within a semester or a
quarter. (c) Simulation machinery may be difficult to learn for
introductory students, especially if it involves writing computer
code. A note on this point is that applets such as ArtofStat,
Rossman/Chance, or StatKey provide great simulation tools
to teach sampling distributions. However, statistical software
where students can save and reproduce results should be used
for exercises and assessment.
Although simulations are effective in teaching sampling vari-
ability, based on our experience, they are not as effective in
introducing inference concepts. We recommend presenting the
elements of inference using one-population proportion infer-
ence and propose the use of the exact binomial method. As
we illustrate in Section 2, this approach allows us to put aside
the required simulation machinery and, as a result, makes it
simpler for students to focus on the underlying concepts of
inference. Additionally, using the binomial distribution avoids
unnecessary complications such as sample size restrictions that
arise with approximating the binomial by the normal through
the central limit theorem. This recommendation is in line with
Chance and Rossman (2001), who state
“Important but peripheral concerns associated with infer-
ence for means should wait until students have an under-
standing of basic inferential principles. Studying proportions
first also allows for exact calculations of p-values and power
from the binomial distribution.”
As in proportion inference, understanding mean inference
has its own challenges for students. Grasping the sampling
distribution of the sample mean, which forms the foundation
of mean inference, is arguably more complicated than that
of the sample proportion. Again, using simulation to under-
stand the sampling distribution of the sample mean is helpful;
however, moving on with simulation-based methods to teach
mean inference adds similar complications as those described
previously in the proportion inference context. All textbooks
that we researched, including Diez, Cetinkaya-Rundel, and Barr
(2019), Lock et al. (2021), and Tintle et al. (2021) that empha-
size simulation-based methods include the normal and t-based
methods for mean inference. A question then is whether there
is room to improve the way we teach the normal- and t-based
methods.
To our knowledge, every introductory statistics text trans-
forms the sample mean to obtain the unitless standard z- or
JOURNAL OF STATISTICS AND DATA SCIENCE EDUCATION 55
t-statistic. As we will show in Section 3, we can eliminate the
standardization step in both the normal-theory and t-based
inference. Two benefits of avoiding standardization are that
the number of computation steps is reduced, and working in
the original data units allows us to introduce the inferential
methods in the units of the data and thus in a natural context.
A key to implementing the methods that we discuss here is
the use of appropriate statistical software. While many textbooks
use technology in their presentations, there is room for fur-
ther modernization. Of the 20 introductory statistics textbooks
that we looked at, 18 include z and t tables, and 14 provide
TI calculator instructions. Considering the limitations of cal-
culators and the availability of affordable statistical software,
interestingly, many textbooks have not steered away from using
probability tables and calculators. One of GAISE’s (2016) goals
for students in introductory statistics courses is that “students
should be able to interpret and draw conclusions from standard
output from statistical software packages.” Moreover, there are
indications that using software improves overall course success
rates (Robinson 2020). The GAISE College Report (2016) lists
ten considerations for teachers when selecting technology tools.
In this article, we use the Rguroo statistical software (https://
rguroo.com/) to present our examples. This software adheres to
the ten GAISE technology guidelines.
2. Teaching Proportion Inference Using Exact
Binomial
In teaching inference about a population proportion p, most
introductory statistics texts use the sampling distribution of the
sample proportion p̂ = X/n, where X is the number of successes
in n trials of an experiment. Of these textbooks, most use the
asymptotic distribution
  
p(1 − p)
p̂ ∼ N p, , (1)
n
and a few texts (e.g., Lock et al. 2021; Tintle et al. 2021) obtain
the sampling distribution of p̂ by simulation.
If a student has understood the central limit theorem, then
it is reasonable to assume that they would have a conceptual
understanding of the asymptotic result in (1). From our expe-
rience, however, most students in an introductory course do
not get a good grasp of the central limit theorem and tend to
follow prescribed steps to solve proportion inference problems.
Additional complexities in this approach include introducing
the formula for the standard error of p̂, shown in (1), and lim-
itations that are imposed on n and p by requiring large sample
sizes. Some books introduce relatively simple methods to deal
with small n, for example, the “plus four” method of Agresti and
Coull (1998) for obtaining 95% confidence intervals; yet, this
adds another layer of complexity.
Demonstrating the distribution of p̂ using simulation offers
students a conceptual understanding of sampling variability and
distribution. Since counts are generally easier for students to
fathom than proportions, we prefer teaching sampling variabil-
ity by simulating from the distribution of X, the number of
successes in n trials, where
X ∼ Binomial(n, p). (2)
56 M. JAMSHIDIAN AND P. JAMSHIDIAN
Only after the idea of sampling variability is understood, we state
the equivalence of the distribution of p̂ and X.
As noted in the Introduction, we recommend teaching pro-
portion inference by computing binomial distribution proba-
bilities directly through the exact binomial method. This only
requires the knowledge of the binomial random variable, a topic
that is covered early on in most introductory courses. Computa-
tion of binomial probabilities, which is generally difficult to do
by hand, will be left to software.
The idea of using the exact binomial method for inference
about a population proportion dates back to about 90 years ago,
as proposed by Clopper and Pearson (1934). But this method is
not used as a main method in introductory textbooks. The older
textbooks did not cover the exact binomial method, and reason-
ably so, because computational software was not widely avail-
able. Fortunately, calculating binomial probabilities for arbitrary
values of n and p is now readily available via statistical software.
Three advantages of using the exact binomial method are
as follows: (a) Count data has an elementary construct that
helps students learn elements of inference in a context-friendly
setting. (b) Knowledge of the central limit theorem, simulation
methods, or formulas is not required. (c) Student learning is not
impeded by adding assumptions on the sample size n and the
population proportion p.
In the following two sections, we give details and examples of
the exact binomial method for hypothesis testing and obtaining
confidence intervals for a one-population proportion.
2.1. Hypothesis Testing
In teaching hypothesis testing about a population proportion,
we start by introducing the following three types of null and
alternative hypotheses:
  
H0 : p = p0 H0 : p = p0 H0 : p = p0
(3)
Ha : p < p0 Ha : p > p0 Ha : p = p0 ,
where p0 is a given fixed value. We explain to our students that
prior to looking at the data, we should decide on a significance
level α for our test, which determines the amount (probability)
of Type I error that we are willing to tolerate. In using the exact
binomial test, the decision on whether to reject or not reject the
null hypothesis will depend on our test statistic X, the number of
successes that we observe in a sample of size n. Having learned
the binomial distribution, students can identify the distribution
of X as binomial with the number of trials n and probability of
success p0 . We refer to this distribution as the null distribution
since p0 is the value of p in the null hypothesis H0 : p = p0 . In
the following two sections, we explain how to make a decision on
rejecting or not rejecting the null hypothesis based on a critical
region and a p-value.
2.1.1. Decision Based on a Critical Region
The critical region approach to testing a hypothesis about a pop-
ulation proportion at a significance level α involves determining
a set of X-values that form the critical (rejection) region. These
X-values favor the alternative hypothesis and must satisfy the
following two conditions:
Condition 1: The probability that X belongs to the critical
region is at most α under the null distribution X ∼
Binomial(n, p0 ).
Condition 2: The X-values are determined so that the Type II
error is minimized.
Because the binomial distribution is discrete, a limitation of the
exact binomial test is that we are not guaranteed a size α test
where we would achieve the exact significance level, but we get
a level α test, where we guarantee that the Type I error remains
below the significance level α. The distinction between the size α
test and level α test is not very important in introductory courses
or generally in practice.
When explaining critical regions to students, we suggest
starting with a one-sided test. Consider an alternative of the
form Ha : p > p0 . With a bit of guidance, students can conclude
that large values of X favor the alternative hypothesis Ha , and
our critical region would consist of values in the right tail of the
distribution of X. Now let’s go through an example.
Example 1 (Pineapple Example). In this example, we conduct a
survey of the students in our classroom to answer the question:
Do more than 20% of students in our class like to have pineapple
on their pizza? The hypotheses here are

H0 : p = 0.20
(4)
Ha : p > 0.20,
where p is the proportion of students in our class who like
pineapple on their pizza. We take a random sample of size n =
10 from our class and ask each of the selected students if they
like pineapple on their pizza.1 Before revealing the result of our
sample, we ask students to guess the critical region. We then use
our probability calculator to test whether their guesses satisfy
Condition 1. After this exercise, we use a probability calculator
to find the critical region.
Figure 1(a) shows Rguroo’s probability calculator dialog box.
In the dialog box we select the Probability ⇒ Values
option to indicate that we are computing an inverse proba-
bility. We then select the Binomial distribution, specify the
parameters No of Trials, n = 10, Prob of Success,
p = 0.20, select the option Upper Tail, and type in our
significance level 0.05. Figure 1(b) shows the resulting output.
It shows that P(X ≥ 4) = 0.1209 > 0.05 and P(X ≥
5) = 0.03279 < 0.05. Therefore, we conclude that our critical
region consists of X-values greater than or equal to 5. In other
words, if five or more students in our sample stated that they like
pineapple on their pizza, we reject the null hypothesis.
Usually, multiple student guesses satisfy Condition 1 and not
Condition 2. We then pose the question of why X ≥ 5 is the
correct critical region as opposed to other regions that satisfy
Condition 1. To explain this to students, we take the example
of X ≥ 6. We compute P(X ≥ 6) = 0.0064 which is less
than 0.05 and therefore satisfies Condition 1. However, we note
that Condition 2 requires a region consisting of X-values that
minimizes the Type II error. The Type II error for the critical
region X ≥ 5 is smaller than that of X ≥ 6. We can clarify
1
Our classes usually have much more than 10 students, and this provides a
good sampling exercise as well as a good discussion about the generaliz-
ability of our decision.

Figure 1. Using Rguroo’s probability calculator to determine the critical region for the test of hypothesis (4).
this point to our students without computing the Type II error
directly, and by noting that the region X ≥ 5 consists of more
X-values than the region X ≥ 6. Thus, we have a lower chance
of failing to reject H0 when X ≥ 5 as compared to X ≥ 6, and
therefore X ≥ 5 is the region that has a smaller Type II error.
Students should understand this explanation since they would
know that
P(Type II error) = P(Failing to reject H0 | Ha is true).
At this point, we state that the critical region for the cases
where Ha : p > p0 consists of the smallest k such that P(X ≥
k) ≤ α, where X ∼ Binomial(n, p0 ). Analogously, for an
alternative hypothesis of the form H0 : p < p0 the critical region
consists of the largest value of k for which P(X ≤ k) ≤ α.
The critical region for two-sided tests involves both the
lower- and the upper-tail of the null distribution. In this case, we
need to determine values k1 < k2 such that P(X ≤ k1 ) + P(X ≥
k2 ) ≤ α while at the same time satisfying Condition 2. We leave
the task of obtaining k1 and k2 to software because it is somewhat
more complex than the one-sided case. The following is a two-
sided example.
Example 2 (UCLA Example). UCLA’s website2 states that 20%
of its students are Hispanic. Since some students do not report
their ethnicity, we do not know whether this reported value
is an underestimate or an overestimate of the true proportion.
To investigate, we test the hypotheses H0 : p = 0.20 versus
Ha : p = 0.20, where p denotes the true proportion of Hispanic
students at UCLA. We took a random sample of size 25 from
UCLA students and observed two Hispanic students in our
2
The first author uses data for his own university for this example and asks
students to take a sample at their university. The xobs value for UCLA in this
example is hypothetical.
JOURNAL OF STATISTICS AND DATA SCIENCE EDUCATION 57
sample. Perform a test of hypothesis at the α = 0.05 significance
level.
We use Rguroo’s One Population Proportion Inference func-
tion to obtain the critical region. Figure 2 shows the dialog boxes
for this function. The left panel shows the Basics dialog where
we have labeled the Factor as “Student Ethnicity,” and the
Success as observing a “Hispanic.” The values of Sample
Size, n = 25, # of Successes, xobs = 2, Alternative
Hypothesis, Ha : p = 0.2, and the Significance
Level, α = 0.05 are specified. To conduct the exact binomial
test, we select the Binomial option. The right panel shows
Rguroo’s Details dialog where the Critical Region and
P-Value checkboxes are selected to obtain the corresponding
graphs.
Figure 3 includes the Rguroo output that shows the critical
region graph for this example. As shown by the red bars in
the graph, we would reject the null hypothesis if our xobs is one
of 0, 1, 10, 11, . . . , 25. Our observed value is 2, as indicated by
the green triangle, which does not fall in the critical region.
Therefore, we do not reject the null hypothesis. As noted earlier,
due to the discreteness of the binomial distribution, we cannot
always obtain a critical region with the exact significance level of
α = 0.05. The graph legend shows the exact significance level
of α = 0.044722.
2.1.2. Decision Based on a p-Value
We begin by introducing the p-value as a measure of how
strongly the evidence in our observed sample favors the alter-
native hypothesis assuming that the null hypothesis is true. In
teaching this concept, we go through the following steps:
Step 1: We explain to students that our evidence is xobs , the
observed number of successes in our sample of size n.
Step 2: The strength of the evidence is measured using prob-
abilities. In particular, here we use the probabilities from
58 M. JAMSHIDIAN AND P. JAMSHIDIAN

Figure 2. Using Rguroo’s proportion Inference function to obtain the critical region and p-value graphs for the UCLA example.

Figure 3. Critical region graph for the UCLA Example.

a binomial distribution with parameters n, and probabil- Step 3: Using a few examples, we have students think about
ity of success p0 . We emphasize that we use p0 since in what we call Ha support, the set of values of X that are as favor-
our testing procedure we assume that the null hypothesis able or more favorable than xobs to the alternative hypothesis
is true. Ha under the null distribution. We prefer this wording of “as

Figure 4. Determining the Ha support and computing the p-value for the UCLA Example.
favorable or more favorable” to the commonly used wording
of “as extreme or more extreme,” since favorability exerts a
direction.
Step 4: We define the p-value as
 
p-value = P X belongs to Ha support | H0 is true .
Step 5: We decide to reject H0 if the p-value is smaller than
our predetermined significance level α. Otherwise, we fail to
reject H0 .
A key step here is determining the Ha support. In the case of
one-sided tests, for example Ha : p > p0 , it is not difficult to
explain to students that a larger number of successes X is more
favorable to the alternative Ha . Thus, the Ha support for this case
consists of xobs , and values of X that are larger than xobs . Similarly,
it can be explained that the Ha support for Ha : p < p0 consists
of xobs and values of X that are less than xobs .
Determining the Ha support for two-sided tests is somewhat
more involved. We explain to our students that one value being
more favorable than another value to Ha is measured based on
comparing probabilities; specifically, the values of X that are
more favorable to Ha : p = p0 than xobs are those with prob-
abilities less than that of X = xobs under the null distribution.
Fortunately, this concept can be illustrated using the probability
bar graph of the null distribution X ∼ Binomial(n, p0 ). On the
graph, we locate our observed value xobs . Then, the values of X
with bars as tall as xobs or shorter form our Ha support. We leave
the computation of the p-value to software. Let’s consider an
example.
Example 3 (UCLA Example—Continued). Recall the UCLA
Example setting. To begin teaching the p-value approach, we
ask students to determine the Ha support by looking at the null
distribution graph. Figure 4(a) shows a bar graph of the proba-
bility mass function for Binomial(n = 25, p = 0.2), the null dis-
tribution, obtained using Rguroo’s probability calculator. This
JOURNAL OF STATISTICS AND DATA SCIENCE EDUCATION 59
graph should be familiar to students from when they learned
about the binomial distribution. In our example, xobs = 2 with
P(X = 2 | p = 0.2) = 0.07084. Students can see from the graph
that the values X = 0, 1, 8, 9, . . . , 25 have lower probabilities
(shorter bars) than xobs = 2 and are more favorable to Ha . Thus,
the Ha support is the set of values {0, 1, 2, 8, 9, . . . , 24, 25}, and
the p-value is the sum of the probabilities for the values of X in
the Ha support which is 0.2073, as shown in Figure 4(b).
Once students understand the concept and steps involved
in computing the p-value, we suggest that they use standard
proportion inference functions in statistical software to perform
the computations. Figure 5 shows the output from the Rguroo
One Population Proportion function resulting from the input
shown in Figure 2. The output includes a table consisting of the
p-value of 0.20735 and a graph that shows the null distribution
marking xobs by a green triangle with red bars corresponding to
the Ha support. The legend includes a formula for how the p-
value is computed.
Figure 6 shows how to use the binom.test() function in
R to compute the p-value for the exact binomial test. This Figure
also includes the R output. The p-value in the R output agrees
with that reported in Rguroo’s output in Figure 5.
2.2. Confidence Intervals
Most introductory statistics textbooks construct a 100(1 − α)%
confidence interval for one population proportion using
p̂ ± z∗ × S.E.(p̂), (5)
where p̂ is the sample proportion, and z∗ is the 1 − α/2 quantile
of the standard normal distribution. Some approximate  the
standard error of p̂ by replacing p̂ into the formula p(1 − p)/n.
A few textbooks use bootstrap to estimate the standard error
of p̂ or use the bootstrap distribution quantiles to obtain a
confidence interval.
60 M. JAMSHIDIAN AND P. JAMSHIDIAN

Figure 5. Rguroo’s One-Population Proportion output for the UCLA example.

Figure 6. R’s binom.test() output for computing the p-value for the UCLA example.

We recommend introducing confidence intervals for one e.g., Casella and Berger 2002). The method of inverting a test
population proportion by inverting an exact binomial test (see of hypothesis for obtaining a 100(1 − α)% confidence intervals

was initially proposed by Clopper and Pearson (1934). To obtain
the lower and upper confidence limits, they proposed finding all
p0 ’s for which we would not reject H0 : p = p0 versus two one-
sided alternatives, Ha : p > p0 and Ha : p < p0 , at the α/2
significance level. Blyth and Still (1983) proposed an alternative
approach to inverting the two-sided test where one finds all p0 ’s
such that H0 : p = p0 is not rejected versus Ha : p = p0 at a
significance level of α. They go on to show that their proposed
interval is narrower and is less conservative than the Clopper-
Pearson interval.
Triola (2022) mentions the use of the Clopper-Pearson con-
fidence intervals for small samples and notes that they are too
conservative. He goes on to say that their computation is beyond
the scope of his textbook and does not offer any further details
or heuristics about the method. Tintle et al. (2021) introduce the
Blyth-Still method. To get around its computational complexity,
they use a grid of plausible p0 values and perform two sided
tests at each of the grid points, using simulation. The boundaries
of the confidence interval are determined by the smallest and
largest grid point values for which H0 for the tests are not
rejected.
We recommend using the Blyth-Still confidence interval
because of its direct connection with the two-sided exact bino-
mial hypothesis test presented in Section 3, as well is its more
optimal properties. We explain to students that the interval is
comprised of plausible values p0 for the population proportion
p in which we do not reject the null hypothesis. To present
confidence intervals based on the formula given in (5), some
textbooks simply give the formula and others resort to deriving
the interval using probability statements and algebraic inequal-
ities. Regardless of whether or not derivation of the formulas
is included, this method does not provide the same concep-
tual understanding and connection to hypothesis testing as the
inversion of a hypothesis test.
To introduce the method, we like the idea of using a grid of
values as in Tintle et al. (2021). Once students understand the
idea behind inverting a test, we leave the computation of the
interval to software. Most software report the Clopper-Pearson
interval as the “Exact Binomial” confidence interval. The reason
for this may be that Blyth-Still intervals are more complex to
implement. In the following example, we show how you can use
Rguroo to obtain both the Clopper-Pearson and the Blyth-Still
confidence intervals.
Example 4 (UCLA Example—Continued). As in Example 2,
suppose that in a random sample of 25 students from
UCLA, we observe two Hispanic students. Figure 7(a) shows
Rguroo’s dialog for obtaining a 95% confidence interval
using both the Blyth-Still and Clopper-Pearson methods. The
Blyth-Still method is the default method and is calculated
by checking the Binomial(Exact) option in the Basics
dialog. To obtain the Clopper-Pearson interval, the option
Binomial(Exact-CP) is selected in Rguroo’s Details
dialog.
Figure 7(b) shows Rguroo’s output. The Blyth-Still confi-
dence interval is (0.0144, 0.2559) which is narrower than the
Clopper-Pearson interval (0.0098, 0.2603). It is worth noting
that the binomial.test() function in R computes the
Clopper-Pearson interval and does not have an option for
JOURNAL OF STATISTICS AND DATA SCIENCE EDUCATION 61
computing the Blyth-Still confidence interval. The Clopper-
Pearson interval is shown in the R output in Figure 6 and agrees
with that computed by Rguroo.
3. Teaching Mean Inference without Standardized
Statistics
In many introductory texts, inference about a population mean
is often introduced using the z- and t-based methods. To make
inference about a population mean μ, the sample mean X̄ from
a sample of size n is used as the statistic of choice. Using the cen-
tral limit theorem, for a sufficiently large sample, the sampling
distribution of X̄ is
X̄ ∼ N (μ, σx̄ ) , (6)
√
where σx̄ = σ/ n denotes the standard error of X̄ with
σ denoting the population standard deviation. Almost every
textbook standardizes the statistic X̄ by using the transformation
X̄ − μ
Z= ∼ N(0, 1). (7)
σx̄
√ σ is not known, the estimate of the standard error σ̂x̄ =
When
s/ n is used in place of the standard error in (7), where s is the
sample standard deviation.
When the population distribution of the variable under study
has a normal distribution and σ is unknown, the t-statistic
X̄ − μ
T= ∼ tn−1 , (8)
σ̂x̄
is used, where tn−1 denotes the standard Student t distribution
with n − 1 degrees of freedom.
In teaching mean inference, we have two recommendations:
1. Begin by assuming that the population distribution of the
variable under study is normal.
2. Avoid using standardized statistics such as T and Z, shown in
(7) and (8), and use the distribution of X̄ directly.
Recommendation 1 is motivated by the idea that students
would not need to have knowledge of the central limit theorem
nor would they need to be concerned with small or large-sample
sizes while they begin to learn the basics of mean inference. We
teach the central limit theorem only after introducing elements
of hypothesis testing and confidence intervals for proportions
and means assuming normality. In addition to reducing com-
plexity, this delay makes us teach the central limit theorem
when students have reached more maturity about statistics and
sampling distributions.
Regarding the second recommendation, standardization is
an age-old practice that is inherited from the times when
probability calculators were not readily available, and we were
forced to use tables for computing probabilities. As previously
mentioned, surprisingly many textbooks continue to include
probability tables. As we will show, putting aside this tradition
and using a probability calculator from software reduces the
steps needed to perform hypothesis test or construct a confi-
dence interval. Furthermore, avoiding standardization allows
for a conceptual understanding of inferential methods, since
we work in the units of the data rather than the standardized
62 M. JAMSHIDIAN AND P. JAMSHIDIAN
Figure 7. The binomial confidence intervals for the UCLA Ethnicity example.
Z and T statistics which are unit-less and cannot be directly
interpreted in the context of a problem.
In the following two sections, we will outline the steps that
we propose for hypothesis testing and developing confidence
intervals for a population mean and include some examples.
3.1. Hypothesis Testing
We present the ideas in this section using a two-sided hypothesis
test which has the form

H0 : μ = μ0
(9)
Ha : μ = μ0 ,
where μ denotes the population mean and μ0 is a fixed hypothe-
sized value. The methods that we present can be adapted to one-
sided tests where Ha : μ < μ0 or Ha : μ > μ0 . Although we
find it easier to use one-sided tests when initially explaining the
concepts of rejection regions and p-values, we choose to work
with two-sided tests here since they are more commonplace in
the real world.
3.1.1. Decision Based on a Critical Region: the Normal
Distribution Case (σ Known)
Consider testing the hypotheses in (9) at a significance level α,
where we assume that the population is normal and therefore,
regardless of the sample size, the sample mean has the normal
distribution shown in (6) . Let x̄obs denote the observed sample
mean. Table (1) compares the steps required to obtain the critical
region when using the standardized Z statistic (left panel) versus
using the distribution of X̄ directly (right panel).
As we see in Table 1, using the Z statistic involves five steps,
whereas using the distribution of X̄ directly requires three steps.
In both methods we would introduce the sampling distribution
X̄ ∼ N(μ0 , σX̄ ). Also, to obtain the critical values, both methods
require the α/2 and 1−α/2 quantiles of the normal distribution.
In the standardized case, we obtain the upper critical value z∗
using P(Z > z∗ ) = α/2, where Z ∼ N(0, 1), and the lower
critical value is −z∗ (Step 3). In the direct method, we obtain the
lower critical value xL∗ using P(X̄ < xL∗ ) = α/2 and the upper
critical value using P(X̄ > xU ∗ ) = α/2, where X̄ ∼ N(μ , σ )
0 X̄
(Step 2). The two additional steps in using the Z statistic involve
introducing the standardized statistic Z (Step 2) and computing

Table 1. Comparing steps to obtain the critical region using the standardized Z statistic versus using the distribution of X̄ directly for a two-sided test.
Using standardized Z
Step 1: X̄ ∼ N(μ0 , σX̄ )
X̄ − μ0
Step 2: Introduce Z = ∼ N(0, 1).
σX̄
Step 3: Obtain the critical value z∗ such that P(Z > z∗ ) = α/2.
x̄obs − μ0
Step 4: Standardize x̄obs , zobs =
σX̄
Step 5: Reject H0 , if zobs > z∗ or zobs < −z∗ .
Figure 8. Rguroo dialog for specifying parameters for the SAT Example.
zobs , the standardized value of the observed statistic x̄obs
(Step 4).
When using the standardized Z statistic method, the required
probabilities can be looked up in a probability table. While this
was a major advantage in not too far past when probability
calculators were not easily accessible, today spending the time
to teach students how to use a probability table is no longer a
good use of our class time. We can compute probabilities and
inverse probabilities using probability calculators that are widely
available in software. More importantly, the critical values xL∗
and xU ∗ and the observed value x̄
obs are in the units of the
observed data. Contrast this with explaining the standardized
value zobs and z∗ which are unit-less and do not directly relate to
the context of the problem. Let’s consider an example to illustrate
this point.
Example 5 (SAT Example). According to the College Board’s
SAT Suite of Assessment Annual report, 1,509,133 high school
students took the SAT exam in 2021. For these students, the
mean for the math portion of the exam was 528 out of 800 with
a standard deviation of 120. In Fall semester 2022, we asked
our students at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) to
take a random sample of 50 first year students and use their
sample data to investigate whether the mean math SAT score
for students at the CSUF campus for that year was significantly
JOURNAL OF STATISTICS AND DATA SCIENCE EDUCATION 63
Using distribution of X̄ Directly
Step 1: X̄ ∼ N(μ0 , σX̄ )
Step 2: Obtain the lower and upper critical values such that P(X̄ < xL∗ ) = α/2 and P(X̄ > xU∗ ) = α/2.
Step 3: Reject H0 , if x̄obs < xL∗ or x̄obs > xU∗ .
different from the national average. The mean math SAT score
for our sample was x̄obs = 565. Considering the standard devi-
ation of 120 as the population standard deviation, we perform
the following test

H0 : μ = 528
(10)
Ha : μ = 528,
at α = 0.05 level, where μ is the mean math SAT score for CSUF
freshmen students who started in Fall 2022.
An option is to use a probability calculator to obtain the
critical values. However, to get a more detailed output, we use
Rguroo’s One Population Mean Inference function. The left
image in Figure 8 shows Rguroo’s Basic dialog, where we specify
the required parameters to perform the test. The right image in
Figure 8 is the Details dialog, where we have checked the options
of P-Value Graph and Critical Region Graph to
obtain graphs that can be used to visually explain the p-value
and critical region.
Figure 9 shows a portion of the resulting Rguroo output
report. Above the table, the alternative hypothesis is stated in
words “Mean of CSUF SAT Math Scores is not equal to 528,”
and the 2.5% lower and upper critical values of xL∗ = 494.74
and xU ∗ = 561.26 are shown, respectively. The table consists
of lower and upper critical Z scores of −1.96 and 1.96, respec-
tively, and the standardized observed value of zobs = 2.18.
64 M. JAMSHIDIAN AND P. JAMSHIDIAN

Figure 9. Rguroo output showing critical region graph for the SAT Example.

Now let’s consider two possible explanations of these results to students that “if our observed sample mean for the Math SAT
students: score is outside of the plausible range of 495 to 561, we would
consider it significantly different than the hypothesized value of
Using standardized values: If zobs , the z-value corresponding
528.” Compare this to stating the rule using the standardized
to our observed sample mean, either exceeds the critical
values of 2.18 and the range −1.96 to 1.96, which don’t have a
value 1.96 or is less than −1.96, we reject the null hypothesis.
direct interpretation in the context of our problem.
In this example, our observed z value is 2.18 which falls in
Figure 9 shows two critical region graphs. The graph on the
the critical region. Therefore, we reject H0 and conclude that
left shows the null distribution in the scale of the observed
there is sufficient evidence at the 5% level that the mean math
data, and that on the right shows the null distribution in the
SAT scores of CSUF students is significantly different from
standardized z-scale. The red-shaded regions in both graphs
the national average of 528.
show the critical region. The green triangle on the left graph
Using data-scaled values: If our observed sample mean x̄obs of
points to the location of the observed sample mean 565, while
math SAT scores is less than the lower critical value of 495 or
that on the right graph shows the location of the standardized
exceeds the upper critical value of 561, we would reject the
observed sample mean 2.18. Both green triangles fall in the
null hypothesis. Since our sample mean of 565 is larger than
critical (red) region, indicating that we should reject the null
561 and falls in the critical region, we conclude that there is
hypothesis. The graph on the left is helpful in explaining the
sufficient evidence at the 5% level that the mean Math SAT
concept of the critical region. Specifically, it shows the distri-
scores of CSUF students is significantly different from the
bution of the sample mean X̄ in the scale of the data, centered
nation’s average of 528.
at the hypothesized null value of μ = 528. By looking at this
The main idea here is to teach our students the concept distribution, students can see plausible values for the sample
of “significantly different” than the hypothesized value. In this mean and make comparisons to the observed sample mean
example, it makes conceptual sense when we explain to our directly. On the other hand, the standardized graph on the right

Table 2. Comparing steps to obtain the p-value using the standardized Z statistic versus using the distribution of X̄ directly for a two-sided test.
Using Standardized Z
Step 1: X̄ ∼ N(μ0 , σX̄ )
X̄ − μ0
Step 2: Introduce Z = ∼ N(0, 1).
σX̄
x̄obs − μ0
Step 3: Standardize x̄obs , zobs = Step 3: Reject H0 if the p-value < α.
σX̄
⎧
⎨ P(Z ≤ zobs ) if zobs < 0.
Step 4: Compute p-value = 2 ×
⎩ P(Z ≥ z ) if z ≥ 0.
obs obs
Step 5: Reject H0 if the p-value < α.
Figure 10. Rguroo output showing p-value graph for the SAT Example.
is centered at zero, which has no direct connection to the stated
null hypothesis and fails to contextualize the variability of the
SAT math scores.
3.1.2. Decision Based on a p-Value: The Normal Distribution
Case (σ Known)
Table 2 shows the steps required in teaching and computing p-
values when using the commonly used standardized statistic Z
versus the un-standardized X̄. Similar to the critical region case,
the standardized case involves more steps than directly using
X̄. As in the exact binomial case, to introduce the p-value for
testing hypothesis about μ, we define the Ha support as the X̄-
values that are as favorable or more favorable to Ha than x̄obs ,
provided that the null hypothesis H0 is true; here, favorabil-
ity is determined based on density values. Specifically, when
looking at the probability density function of X̄ ∼ N(μ0 , σX̄ ),
X̄-values for which the density is less than or equal to the
density at x̄obs , are as favorable or more favorable than x̄obs to
the alternative hypothesis. Then, as before, we define the p-
value as P(X̄ belongs to the Ha support). As we show in the next
example, it is very helpful to explain these concepts using a p-
value graph.
JOURNAL OF STATISTICS AND DATA SCIENCE EDUCATION 65
Using Distribution of X̄ Directly
Step 1: X̄ ∼ N(μ0 , σX̄ ) ⎧
⎨ P(X̄ ≤ xobs ) if xobs < μ0 .
Step 2: Compute p-value = 2 ×
⎩
P(X̄ ≥ xobs ) if xobs ≥ μ0 .
Example 6 (SAT Example—Continued). Figure 10 shows the p-
value graphs for Example 5, the SAT Example. The left panel
shows the p-value graph in the scale of the data and the right
panel shows the p-value graph in the z scale. Again, because
the graph on the left panel is in the scale of the data it can
be used to explain the p-value conceptually, whereas the graph
on the right hand side, which is in the standard scale is not
quite as easily interpretable in the context of the data. So, we
continue with the graph on the left. The green triangle points
to the location of the observed sample mean of x̄obs = 565.
The orange horizontal dashed-line is drawn at the height of
the density at x̄obs . We explain to students that the Ha support
(indicated by the red-shaded region) consists of all X̄ values
(sample mean values) for which the density curve falls below
the orange dashed-line; these values are as favorable or more
favorable to the alternative hypothesis than x̄obs . Thus, comput-
ing P(X̄ belongs to the Ha support) amounts to finding the area
of the red-shaded region. Note that by using this explanation,
we justify the multiplication by 2 in the p-value formula for the
two-sided test.
Figure 11 shows an R function for computing the p-value
for a two-sided test with the normality assumption. We use this
function to calculate the p-value for this example. This p-value
66 M. JAMSHIDIAN AND P. JAMSHIDIAN
Figure 11. An R function for obtaining the p-value for the two-sided normal-theory-based test with the output for the SAT Example.
Table 3. Comparing steps to obtain the critical region using the standardized T statistic versus using the distribution of X̄ directly for a two-sided test.
Using standardization
X̄ − μ
Step 1: Introduce the statistic T = ∼ t(n−1) .
σ̂X̄
Step 2: Obtain the critical value t∗ such that P(T > t∗ ) = α/2.
xobs − μ0
Step 3: Standardize xobs , tobs =
σ̂X̄
Step 4: Reject H0 , if tobs > t∗ or tobs < −t∗ .
agrees with that computed in Rguroo and shown in Figure 10.
The z.test() function in the BSDA package in R can be used
to perform a z-test if raw data is available.
3.1.3. The t-Distribution Case
In our introductory courses, in addition to the general normal
distribution with arbitrary mean and standard deviation, we
introduce the standard t-distribution through the unit-less T
statistic given in (8). Like the general normal distribution, there
is also a general t-distribution with an arbitrary location (mean)
√
and scale (standard error). Let σ̂X̄ = s/ n denote the standard
error of X̄, where s is the sample standard deviation based
on a sample of size n. If T is a random variable which has a
standard t-distribution with n − 1 degrees of freedom, then
X̄ = σ̂X̄ T + μ has a t-distribution with location μ, and scale σ̂X̄ .
The probability density of X̄ is given by fX̄ (x) = (1/σ̂X̄ )fT ((x −
μ)/σ̂X̄ ), where fT (x) denotes the probability density function of
the standard t-distribution with n−1 degrees of freedom. Using
this location-scale family result, if our data come from a normal
distribution with unknown population standard deviation, we
propose making inference about a population mean μ using the
distribution
X̄ ∼ tn−1 (μ, σ̂X̄ ),
where tn−1 (μ, σ̂X̄ ) denotes the t distribution with location μ,
scale σ̂X̄ , and n − 1 degrees of freedom.
The process of teaching the general t-distribution in (11)
after students get familiar with the standard t-distribution is
similar to that of transitioning from the standard normal dis-
tribution to the general normal distribution with an arbitrary
Not using standardization
Step 1: Introduce the statistic X̄ ∼ tn−1 (mean = μ0 , scale = σ̂X̄ )
Step 2: Obtain the lower and upper critical values such that P(X̄ < xL∗ ) = α/2 and P(X̄ > xU∗ ) = α/2.
Step 3: Reject H0 , if x̄obs < xL∗ or x̄obs > xU∗ .
mean and standard deviation. Based on our experience, intro-
ductory students have no problem understanding the location-
scale family concept presented here. Much like using the general
normal distribution instead of the standardized Z, using the
general t-distribution instead of its standardized counterpart
affords our students a better conceptual understanding by work-
ing with a statistic that is in the scale of the data. As we will show,
computation of probabilities for the general t-distribution can
be easily performed using software.
Again, consider conducting the two-sided test in (9) at a
significance level α assuming that the population is normal with
an unknown standard deviation. Table 3 compares the steps
required for making a decision based on the distribution of
standardized T statistics (left panel) and using the distribution
of X̄ directly (right panel). Like in the normal distribution case,
there are fewer steps involved when avoiding standardization.
Moreover, the decision in the last step is more conceptual when
stated using the xL∗ and xU ∗ that are in the scale of the data rather
∗
than t that is on the standardized scale. The following is an
example.
Example 7 (SAT Example—the t-test). Consider the hypothesis
test in Example 5, and assume that the population is normal with
(11) sample standard deviation s = 120 based on a sample of size 50.
In this case, our null distribution will be
√
X̄ ∼ t49 (location = 528, scale = 120/ 50). (12)
Figure 12 shows Rguroo’s probability calculator for comput-
ing the critical values xL∗ and xU
∗ . In the probability dialog shown
in Figure 12(a), we select the option Probability ⇒

Figure 12. Calculating the critical region for Example 7.
Values to obtain an inverse probability, and fill in the values
for DF (degrees of freedom = 49), Center
√ (location = 528),
and Scale (standard error = 120/ 50 ≈ 16.971). In the
drop-down menu, we select the option Outside Tails and
specify a probability value of 0.025 for each of the left and right
tails of the distribution. The probability calculator shows the
critical values of xL∗ = 493.9 and xU ∗ = 562.1. Figure 12(b)
shows the density of X̄ ∼ tn−1 (μ, σ̂X̄ ), with the critical values
marked with small green triangles.
JOURNAL OF STATISTICS AND DATA SCIENCE EDUCATION 67
To get a more detailed output we can perform this test in
Rguroo’s One Population Mean Inference function. The input
for this case is exactly the same as that shown in Figure 8
with two exceptions; instead of filling the population standard
deviation we fill in the Sample S.d. with the value of 120,
and we select the option t-statistic.
Figure 13 shows the resulting output. This output consists of
the critical region, a critical region graph, the p-value, and a p-
value graph. All of these quantities are reported both in standard
68 M. JAMSHIDIAN AND P. JAMSHIDIAN

Figure 13. Rguroo’s mean inference output for Example 7.

form, using the T statistic, and in the scale of the data using the
distribution of X̄ directly.
Figure 14 shows an R function for computing the p-value for
a two-sided t-test. The p-value for this example is computed
using this function, and it agrees with that computed in the
Rguroo report, shown in Figure 13. The t.test() function
in R can be used to perform a t-test if raw data is available.
Note that the process of obtaining p-values using the distri-
bution in (11) is a similar to that shown in Table 2. Changing Z

Figure 14. An R function for obtaining the p-value for the two-sided t-test with the output for the SAT Example.
to T and replacing the N(μ0 , σ̂X̄ ) with tn−1 (μ0 , σ̂X̄ ) in Table 2
forms the steps for obtaining the p-value in the t-distribution
case.
3.2. Confidence Intervals
As in proportion inference, we recommend teaching confidence
intervals for a population mean after teaching hypothesis test-
ing. Assuming a normal population, the most commonly used
method for obtaining a confidence interval is
X̄ ± margin of error,
where X̄ is the sample mean, and the margin of error is z∗ ×
σX̄ , if σ is known or t ∗ × σ̂X̄ , if σ is unknown with z∗ and
t ∗ denoting the 1 − α quantile of the standard normal and
the Student t-distributions, respectively. For the most part, this
formula is simple for students to use, and confidence intervals
for a population mean can be computed easily by hand or using
software. To interpret a confidence interval, we typically teach
students to use the template: “We are 100(1−α)% confident that
the true population parameter lies between the lower bound and
the upper bound.”
Beyond these formulas and routine interpretations, it is
important for students to get a more thorough understanding
of a confidence interval. For instance, students should be taught
the classical interpretation that a constructed confidence inter-
val would contain the true mean 100(1 − α)% of the time
in repeated experiments. To demonstrate this, we often use
applets and simulations. Applets are very useful in teaching
the classical interpretation of confidence intervals, but beyond
mechanically rerunning the applets, it is difficult to devise
elementary-level exercises for introductory students that drill
down the idea. Again, we recommend using the concept of
inverting a test to obtain confidence intervals for a population
mean. As we explain, introducing this inversion method pro-
vides students with a hands-on opportunity to construct con-
fidence intervals and develop a conceptual understanding for
them.
For a given value of xobs , we describe a 100(1−α)% confidence
interval for the population mean μ as all values of μ0 for which
the two-sided test in (9) is not rejected. As a hands-on activity,
we ask students to construct a confidence interval using a given
JOURNAL OF STATISTICS AND DATA SCIENCE EDUCATION 69
value of x̄obs and σX̄ by creating a grid of μ0 -values around
x̄obs and performing repeated tests at each value of the grid.
A confidence interval for μ in this case would be the grid
boundaries for which we do not reject the null hypothesis. The
following is a specific example that we give to students to work
on in groups.
Example 8 (Inverting a Test—Group Activity). Consider a sit-
uation where the sample size n = 100, x̄obs = 10, and the
population
√ standard deviation σ = 20, which leads to σX̄ =
20/ 100 = 2. We ask our students to perform the test of
(13) hypothesis in (9) at a significance level α = 0.05 for the
following values of μ0 : 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12, 13, 14, and 15 and form
a table of p-values for each μ0 . Then, students would determine
for which values of μ0 the hypothesis H0 : μ = μ0 is rejected.
Based on this exercise, we ask our students to guess the greatest
value less than x̄obs and the smallest value greater than x̄obs for
which they would not reject the null hypothesis. We hint that the
smallest and the largest values may not be one of the μ0 values
that they have tested.
Students should obtain the following p-value table:
μ0 5 6 7 8 10 12 13 14 15
p-value 0.0124 0.0455 0.1336 0.3173 1.00 0.3173 0.1336 0.0455 0.0124
As seen from the table, H0 is not rejected at the α = 0.05 level
for the values 7, 8, 10, 12, and 13, and it is rejected for the values
5, 6, 14, and 15. In obtaining a guess for the lower- and upper-
bound of the confidence interval, most student groups in our
classes are able to deduce that the lower-bound value should be
between 6 and 7 and the upper-bound value should be between
13 and 14. At this stage, we ask groups to present their guesses.
Then, we compute the confidence interval using the formula in
(13). For the most part, the guesses should be fairly close to the
actual confidence interval bounds. This gives us an opportunity
to discuss the difference between the actual 1.96 multiplier and
the values of μ0 , 6 and 14, that were exactly 2 standard errors
away from x̄obs . In our experience, this has been an engaging
activity that helps students understand the relationship between
confidence intervals and tests of hypotheses.
Depending on the level of students in your class, you may
further exploit the duality between confidence intervals and
70 M. JAMSHIDIAN AND P. JAMSHIDIAN
Figure 15. Relationship between confidence interval and acceptance region for one population mean inference.
tests of hypotheses. The general idea is that the confidence
interval fixes the sample value (observed sample mean x̄obs ) and
asks for what values of μ0 the hypothesis (9) is not rejected.
On the other hand, the hypothesis test fixes the parameter μ0
and asks for what values of xobs we do not reject H0 (i.e., what is
the acceptance region?). This concept is illustrated in Figure 15,
where the shaded blue is the region where
μ − z∗ σX̄ ≤ X̄ ≤ μ + z∗ σX̄ .
Therefore, for a given μ0 , as shown on the horizontal axis, we
get the acceptance region, shown on the vertical axis, depicting
all X̄ for which the null hypothesis H0 : μ = μ0 is not
rejected.
Analogously, the shaded blue region can be thought of as the
region where
X̄ − z∗ σX̄ ≤ μ ≤ X̄ + z∗ σX̄ .
Therefore, for a given x̄obs , as shown on the vertical axis, we get
the confidence interval, shown on the horizontal axis, depicting
all μ0 values for which the null hypothesis H0 : μ = μ0 is not
rejected.
4. Summary and Discussion
Introductory statistics courses have adapted to technological
advancements over the years by including instructions on how
to perform statistical analyses using software. To use the full
capabilities of statistical software, we should not simply use
software as a means of avoiding by-hand computations but
take advantage of its potential to demonstrate and teach sta-
tistical concepts. The following roadmap for teaching pro-
portion and mean inference aims to achieve the latter in
line with GAISE guidelines to place emphasis on conceptual
understanding:
1. Teach discrete random variables, and in particular the bino-
mial distribution.
2. Teach concepts of variability utilizing in-class activities and
simulating from a binomial random variable.
3. Introduce elements of test of hypothesis (null and alternative
hypotheses, Type I and Type II errors) in the context of the
one-population proportion problem.
4. Use the exact binomial test to perform tests about a one
population proportion.
5. Use the idea of inverting a test to obtain confidence intervals
for a population proportion and use software to obtain the
Blyth-Still confidence intervals.
6. Teach continuous random variables and in particular the
general normal and t distributions.
7. Teach mean inference, assuming a normal population distri-
bution, and use the distribution of the sample mean directly;
avoid standardized statistics, the central limit theorem, or
simulation-based methods.
8. Teach the central limit theorem using simulation and applets.
9. Adapt the normal-theory inference methods to the nonnor-
mal case by utilizing the central limit theorem result.
It is important that students get familiar with the concept
of sampling variability before learning statistical inference. As
noted by Chance and Rossman (2001), the context of pro-
portion inference is helpful in teaching sampling variability
since simulation of binary data, whether through class activities
or via computer software, is relatively easy to implement and
understand.
Using the exact binomial method when beginning to teach
hypothesis testing provides a smooth segue into learning

inference concepts since the binomial distribution is often intro-
duced early on in introductory courses. Furthermore, using
this method gives us the opportunity to present inference in
the context-friendly setting of count data and allows us to put
aside any assumptions on the sample size n and proportion p
that one would have when using the asymptotic distribution
of p̂.
Teaching the Blyth-Still confidence intervals naturally fol-
lows from using the exact binomial test in proportion inference.
Although we need to use software to compute this interval,
it allows us to talk about inverting a hypothesis test, which
provides students with a conceptual view of a confidence inter-
val. As a side note, since the distribution of p̂ is symmetric or
nearly symmetric for large samples, half of the width of a Blyth-
Still confidence interval gives a good measure of the margin of
error. In small sample sizes, the distribution symmetry is not
guaranteed, and one cannot obtain an interpretable margin of
error.
Regarding mean inference, standardized statistics such as z
and t obscure the context of inference problems. By teaching
mean inference using the distribution of the sample mean X̄
directly, we allow students to work with a more tangible statis-
tic that is in the units of the data. Furthermore, this reduces
the number of steps required to perform a hypothesis test
for a population mean. To teach mean inference, we begin
by assuming that the population is normal. This prevents stu-
dents from being distracted from unneeded concepts such as
the central limit theorem or needing to understand simula-
tion machinery and methods. Only when students have gained
more maturity with sample variability through basic methods
should we resort to simulation to introduce the central limit
theorem.
It is fair to ask how these methods would extend to the two-
population case where we compare proportions or means. We
can resort to Fisher’s exact test to teach an exact method for
the two-population proportion problem. However, we like the
permutation test advocated by GAISE (2016) because it can
be introduced nicely through class activities and is intuitive.
Permutation tests are included in the Common Core State Stan-
dards and have been part of a number of states’ curricula for
many years. As for mean inference, the one-population methods
described in Section 3 can be generalized to the two-population
case where we use the distribution of the difference of sample
means for the two populations directly instead of standardizing
them. This will have similar advantages to those we discussed
for the one population case.
The methods discussed in this article emanate from the
first author’s many years of experience in teaching introductory
courses and the second author’s perspective as a student. The
first author’s department offers a general education introductory
statistics course that is taken by students majoring mainly in
the natural sciences, in particular biology, chemistry, and geol-
ogy. In teaching this course, he has implemented the approach
outlined in this article in the past few years. While no formal
study has been conducted to compare the proposed meth-
ods’ effectiveness to more commonly used or simulation-based
methods, student feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.
Also, as an indication that the approaches proposed are effective,
JOURNAL OF STATISTICS AND DATA SCIENCE EDUCATION 71
students have been performing significantly better in answer-
ing conceptual questions given in their exams as compared to
when the first author used more traditional approaches to teach
inference.
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