It is a question that nearly everyone asked during a math class growing up: When am I ever going to use this?
Researcher Ellen Peters may have the answer, thanks to recent research, including several studies conducted with University students.
Peters’ research at the Decision Research institute in Eugene found that people with a high level of numeracy are more likely to make better decisions that can help them in more crucial areas of their lives than they might think.
Aside from the given areas of finances and money, people with a better grasp of numbers are also able to make better decisions about medicine that could save their lives, the research found. One crucial factor, Peters said, lies in how those figures are organized.
“How you present information can help or hurt people in terms of understanding the numbers, but it can also influence their choices,” she said.
As part of her research, Peters offered subjects two different presentations of the same data that showed the likelihood of cancer survival after 10 years given various treatments. One set presented four divided graphs with percentages of how many people survive out of 100 with different kinds of treatment. The other simplified the information by simply giving the total number of people that were still alive in the same time period. Peters said the latter simplified an issue that can be very difficult to begin with.
“Cancer tends to be a very emotional disease,” Peters said. “When people hear the word ‘cancer,’ it’s very emotional for them … they’re not able to focus on the numbers as well.”
While people with higher numeracy still understood the first format better, the second, simpler format leveled the understanding and improved it for both groups, numerate or not. With the first format, 44 percent of subjects in both groups said they felt it didn’t matter which or if any treatment was given, despite more people surviving with medical aid. When Peters’ revised presentation cleared up the data, that figure dropped below 10 percent for both groups.
“You want to do everything you can to help them understand the risks of different treatments, because it’s ethical,” Peters said. “When you improve the format, you show what’s logically the same numbers, and everybody’s understanding improves.”
Doug Hintz, an instructor in the University’s Academic Learning Services office who specializes in math, said there are several more practical applications of number and statistical comprehension that students face every day. Anyone who reads a newspaper regularly is bound to encounter some kind of numerical graphic with a story that may require a little more thought, he said.
“People when they see any kind of mathematical information, if they’re not a math major, they just kind of glance over it,” Hintz said. “You can’t just read it like a book.”
To counter the misunderstanding, one solution is to help people see the information visually, Hintz said, either by explanation or reorganization of data as Peters has done. Thinking critically about a graphic or statistic is also helpful, he said.
“People who don’t read into that or ask questions, they’re really at the mercy of it,” Hintz said.
University math professor David Levin said he didn’t find it surprising that people might perceive numbers differently based on their presentation. He also said it might simply stem from some being more highly numerate than others.
For those who do find themselves mathematically challenged, there is hope, Peters said. People are generally not born with or without numerical ability, she said, but rather learn to be proficient in math through their own interest and experience in school most often.
“It turns out that having those math classes and understanding numbers better – even in simple ways – makes a difference to some important decisions that you might end up making,” Peters said.
For those who haven’t yet reached that level of numeracy and may suffer financially or medically because of it, Peters’ research hopes to change that, she said.
“People who are higher in number ability might make more consistent and better choices involving numbers,” Peters said. “The stuff on information presentation is kind of an attempt to level the playing field, so that we can reduce these disparities just by making it simpler for people to access the numbers.”
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