Numeracy is defined and used as a measure of the ability and disposition to make use of quantitative information in causal-inference tasks¶
Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · causalr?·q2
Currency · newest study 2017 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2020: tool and model accuracy changes quickly
Subclaims¶
Reading the evidence codes
q is the design tier, i the impact, n the sample, and the kind with its r
the rigour judged within that kind: what each code means.
This claim: no standardized effect is recorded in observations/ for it yet, so no benchmark reading is possible.
q2 i? The experiment operationalized skill as numeracy, described as the ability and disposition to make use of quantitative information, and presented subjects a difficult problem requiring valid causal inference from empirical data. → DAN M. KAHAN 2017
Evidence¶
DAN M. KAHAN 2017¶
DAN M. KAHAN, ELLEN PETERS, ERICA CANTRELL DAWSON and PAUL SLOVIC. (2017). Motivated numeracy and enlightened self-government. Behavioural Public Policy, Volume 1, Issue 1. https://doi.org/10.1017/bpp.2016.2
q2 · i? · causal · r?
This describes the article's experimental task design: a problem that required drawing "valid causal inferences from empirical data", with subjects differentiated by numeracy, "a measure of the ability and disposition to make use of quantitative information". The supplied text prints no task performance statistics.
"In our experiment, we presented subjects with a difficult problem that turned on their ability to draw valid causal inferences from empirical data"
Discussion¶
Related Claims¶
- Subjects highest in numeracy draw valid causal inferences from data better than less numerate subjects when the data are politically uncharged (skin rash treatment framing) — related
- Contrary to the science comprehension thesis, political polarization of data interpretation did not abate among the most numerate subjects but increased — related
- Politically charged framing (gun control ban) makes responses to the same data politically polarized and less accurate — related
Page metadata
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
type |
claim |
id |
numeracy-quantitative-reasoning-measure |
title |
Numeracy is defined and used as a measure of the ability and disposition to make use of quantitative information in causal-inference tasks |
description |
Numeracy is defined and used as a measure of the ability and disposition to make use of quantitative information in causal-inference tasks |
status |
review |
evidence_strength |
moderate |
newest_evidence |
2017 |
recheck_by |
2020 |
generated |
by process:wiki-ingest on 2026-10-14 |
trust |
unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content |
sources |
1 — dan-m-kahan-2017 |
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