Reasoning with Multivariate Evidence

We report a study where 195 students aged 12 to 15 years were presented with computer-based tasks that require reasoning with multivariate data, together with paper-based tasks from a well established scale of statistical literacy. The computer tasks were cognitively more complex, but were only slightly more difficult than paper tasks. All the tasks fitted well onto a single Rasch scale. Implications for the curriculum, and public presentations of data are discussed.