What is the good practice about?

The online textbook "Application of visualisation techniques in basic statistics" is created primarily for students at the Department of Psychology, but it is open for use for all interested stakeholders. It is the first online, interactive, and open access textbook at the University of Novi Sad.

The textbook contains multiple interactive widgets created in JavaScript and php which enables users to more deeply understand the logic behind the basic statistical procedures and research methodology in general.

The intention was to provide a free and easily accessible source for all that are interested in learning statistics and research methodology. Interactive and modern design is expected to attract the attention of various stakeholders and improve their understanding of how data is collected, analyzed, and presented visually so that is understandable to all users, regardless of their cultural, disciplinary or educational background.

Why is this initiative needed?

Students, particularly those in social science, have in general very negative attitudes toward statistics and methodology. The intention was to create a textbook as an interactive platform that would bring those issues to them in a more intuitive and easy to comprehend way.

What are the main objectives and activities?

The main objective was to provide all interested stakeholders with an interactive, intuitive, and easily comprehensible source of knowledge about statistics and methodology with a special emphasis on practice and real examples of how data are collected, analyzed and presented in visual form.

Who is involved?

The textbook is a result of the individual effort of its author, Dejan Pajić, Faculty of Philosophy - Department of Psychology, University of Novi Sad. However, many teachers and practitioners have already shown interest in using this source in their work.

Can this good practice be replicated?

The textbook was written in Serbian, so it can be already used in some countries of former Yugoslavia. The language problem in other countries of WB could be solved by appropriate translations. There are no sources needed or costs related to this project. However, the translation of the book would need some additional financial sources, but they should not be very high since the textbook is distributed under the CC licence and requires no additional costs for regulating copyright issues.

Further links:

http://psihologija.ff.uns.ac.rs/viz/

https://twitter.com/STARNoviSad/status/1329041290126905347                    

Relevant RRI keys:Science Education, Open Access, Open Science, Open Data

Type of practice: Websites serving as platforms for services to clients, Publications/promotional material, Organisation of training, webinars

Target groups: universities, research performing organisations, youth (children, pupils), students (up to Master level)