TRANSITION BETWEEN EDUCATION AND PROFESSION: EXPERIENCES OF STATISTICIANS by Layla Guyot, B.S., M.S. A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Council of Texas State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy with a Major in Mathematics Education August 2020 Committee Members: Alexander White, Chair M. Alejandra Sorto Carlton Fong Robert Sigley COPYRIGHT by Layla Guyot 2020 FAIR USE AND AUTHOR’S PERMISSION STATEMENT Fair Use This work is protected by the Copyright Laws of the United States (Public Law 94-553, section 107). Consistent with fair use as defined in the Copyright Laws, brief quotations from this material are allowed with proper acknowledgement. Use of this material for financial gain without the author’s express written permission is not allowed. Duplication Permission As the copyright holder of this work I, Layla Guyot, authorize duplication of this work, in whole or in part, for educational or scholarly purposes only. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS While reflecting on my doctoral adventure, I am overwhelmed by the support I have had throughout these past five years. I would like to acknowledge those who have accompanied my work, directly or indirectly, but first and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to the study participants who welcomed me at conferences, agreed to participate, and who trusted me to tell their stories. The adventure started when I applied to the program at Texas State University and I instantly knew when I met Dr. White and Dr. Sorto that they would be a great source of inspiration. I am very thankful they accepted to embark on the dissertation journey with Dr. Fong and Dr. Sigley. I would like to thank Dr. White for sharing his genius and creativity about statistics and education to help me grow as a researcher and teacher. Thanks to him, I had incredible opportunities to get involved in research from the early beginning and he provided extensive support to help me develop instructional materials with fun activities to implement in my classroom. I also really appreciated our conversations about cultural differences between the U.S. and France which made me feel appreciated and integrated. It was a great honor to have had Dr. White’s guidance throughout my graduate studies and sincerely hope that our collaboration continues. Also, from the very start of my journey, I have been grateful to Dr. Sorto whose cheerfulness has been inspiring. She encouraged me to participate in conferences and gave me the amazing opportunity to be part of the editorial process of a renowned international conference that brought us to Japan. Thanks to Dr. Sorto, I met the most iv influential researchers in statistics education because she knows everybody, or shall I say everybody knows her. I want to be like you when I grow up academically! Advice given by Dr. Fong helped me shape my dissertation study and I very well recall the “Aha!” moment we had when we found the article that provided the theoretical framework and connected all the dots. It was a privilege to receive his guidance. My grateful thanks are also extended to Dr. Sigley who gave me the opportunity to experience qualitative research in statistics education and with whom I learned how to conduct interviews. I would also like to thank Dr. Melhuish who offered me the first chance to pursue educational research and included me on her team as a statistician. This study could not have happened without the great support from the Department of Mathematics, the Graduate College, and the Student Government at Texas State University to enable me to travel to conferences to recruit participants. More than a financial aid, your support was a recognition of my work and aspirations. Conducting educational research would not make sense if it were not for students. I have learned so much from students at Texas State and I am very grateful for everything they taught me to grow as a teacher but also keeping me accountable for writing my dissertation on a daily basis. A special thank you to my classmates Christina, Michael, Brittany, Mike, Suby, and Liz, with whom I was able to get through the coursework, preparing for presentations at a recurring headquarters, and who have shown constant support for my research and provided extremely valuable feedback. v I also would like to express my great appreciation to the persons that lead me to the topic of my dissertation. Philippe Bonneau, program coordinator of the Master’s degree in Applied Probabilities and Statistics at l’Université de Lorraine as well as my classmate Yannick with whom I practiced the protocol for the interviews. Thank you to the team in the Department of Statistics at the Banque Centrale du Luxembourg for your warm welcome and for launching my career as a statistician. To my parents, for instilling in me the passion for teaching and for mathematics ever since I can remember. A special thank you to my Mom who always believes in me and encourages me to follow my dreams. To Fifi whose strength is an inspiration to me and to my sisters Mélissa and Sonia for their unconditional love. To Naj, thank you for being by my side each and every day since day one of this adventure, bearing with me while I concluded this accomplishment, and for being quarantined with an introvert. Thank you to my brother at heart, Stéphane, for your constant love. Our adventures with Guillaume are full of lifelong memories and help me recharge. This message acknowledges many people who have contributed to my success but I would not have been able to complete this work without the support of my music friends, in Austin and in France, for my horseback riding friends, especially Tanya with whom I could still go to play with when I had the chance, and to my friends who visited me, Christophe and Christine, Marie-Paule and Patrick. Finally, to Pilou (the cat) who stayed by my feet while I developed these ideas. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... xiii LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... xv ABSTRACT ..................................................................................................................... xvi CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 1 Statement of the Problem ............................................................................ 2 Purpose of the Study ................................................................................... 5 Definitions of Terms ................................................................................... 5 Statisticians ........................................................................................... 6 Mentors ................................................................................................. 6 Statistical Practices ............................................................................... 6 Academic Settings ................................................................................ 7 Workplace ............................................................................................. 7 Transition .............................................................................................. 8 Research Questions ..................................................................................... 8 Delimitations ............................................................................................... 8 Summary ..................................................................................................... 9 II. LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................. 10 Transition between Academic Settings and the Workplace ..................... 11 Transition for Statisticians ........................................................................ 14 Theoretical Framework ............................................................................. 20 Activity Theory ................................................................................... 22 Boundary Crossing and Boundary Objects ......................................... 25 Learning Mechanisms ......................................................................... 26 Summary ............................................................................................. 27 Statistical Practices ................................................................................... 28 Practices from the Perspective of Mentors at the Workplace ............. 28 Practices from the Perspective of Statisticians ................................... 30 vii Practices from the Perspective of Mentors in Academic Settings ...... 32 Promoting Authentic Statistical Practices in Academic Settings ....... 33 Summary ................................................................................................... 36 III. METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................... 38 Research Design ........................................................................................ 39 Participant Selection ................................................................................. 41 Members of the Statistical Community .............................................