PROCEEDINGS OF THE 21ST ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
2018
San Diego, California
Challenging the stigma of a small N: Experiences of students of color in Calculus I
Page: 890
Because students of color are underrepresented in undergraduate mathematics classes, their experiences are often ignored in studies drawing on large data sets or are inferred based on the experiences of other underrepresented populations, specifically women. This exclusion and misrepresentation of students of color is often attributed to methodological limitations. In this study, we reexamine the data studied for a previous analysis attending to student race and ethnicity rather than to gender. Due to the smaller numbers of non-white students, we utilize different analytic tools, and draw on students’ open-ended responses to a survey question asking about their experiences in Calculus I. In addition to adding to the literature on students from marginalized populations in undergraduate mathematics, this paper argues for a reframing of how we value papers with a small N, and what this value indicates about our value of the students making up the small samples.