Decision-making in contexts of risk and uncertainty: An instrument for secondary education

Probability and statistics help us make well-informed decisions in context of risk and uncertainty. These contexts, which are inherent to daily life, range from games of chance to 21st century current events. However, in the field of mathematics education, research focused specifically on how young people make decisions is nascent. Through an exploratory and descriptive design in six stages, we present the formulation and content validation process of forced-response questionnaire that aims to explore how students in secondary education make decisions in contexts of risk and uncertainty, considering six everyday situations. The process of validation included the participation of six experts in this area, who assessed the content of the instrument in question. The results of the content validity coefficient show an adequate level of agreement among the expert judges, allowing for a validated instrument whose use in the secondary school classroom can contribute to the recognition and characterization of patterns of reasoning for decision-making.