81

An abundant literature of didactic research on statistical tests reports various difficulties, often related to misconceptions, that can be encountered at any age and at any level of expertise. The conclusions of this research agree on the fact that, in general, an average student cannot describe the basic idea of this statistical tool, only a mechanical calculation is often rendered, based much more on memorization than on reflection and interpretation. Certainly, multiple factors are at the origin of this difficult character. Thus, in this article, we have focused on exploring the impact of the (ambiguous) probabilistic language, used in the usual expressions underlying the decision tests procedure, on the interpretation of the concepts conveyed by the students. To do this, we selected a sample of 195 individuals, to whom we administered a questionnaire composed of five questions, involving expressions commonly used in decision tests. The results we obtained revealed several anomalies that can be taken into consideration in order to improve the learning of this statistical tool.