Modeling Quantitative Literacy

Quantitative literacy is a habit of mind that is characterized by the interrelationship among a person’s everyday understanding of mathematics, his or her beliefs about mathematics, and his or her disposition toward mathematics. To assess quantitative literacy, it is important to devise measurement tools that provide valid and reliable information about a person’s quantitative literacy. In this study, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used to build and evaluate a measurement model of quantitative literacy. Data from the Second International Mathematics Study (SIMS) were used to create calibration (N = 1,429) and validation samples (N = 1,429) of high school students for testing an initial model and cross-validation. An additional sample of high school students (N = 1,429) collected from the midwestern part of the United States was used in a replication study. In each stage, a hierarchical three-factor model was compared with two alternative rival models: a one-factor model and a hierarchical two-factor model. The results of the analyses supported the structure of the hierarchical three-factor model. Implications and limitations associated with the findings from the study are discussed. Keyword