“On Two-Sides of the same Coin: Recalibrating Filipino Mentality through

Integration of Sociological and Statistical Contexts”

The Philippine society has constantly been plagued by countless issues that each
Filipino failed to address. The word "countless" speaks volumes as it allows them to imagine
how cruel the modern world day is, perhaps enabling them to do mental math. However, would
they understand what it means to have countless issues when they barely acknowledge
statistics? Are statistical data merely about counting tolls of numerical values adding day per
day into their minds until they lost count of it? Or the problem lies with their skeptical culture as
Filipinos in viewing things one-sidedly just like flipping a coin without recognizing its two sides?
This has become more poignant over the past years, as many Filipinos get a grip on
assumptions rather than statistical data. Thus, Filipinos need to recalibrate their senses through

sociological imagination and statistical literacy — tools that permit them to foster openness and
eliminate parochial views.

Sociological imagination widens an individual's view and horizon by looking at their

environment wholly (Crossman, 2019). Originally conceptualized by famous Sociologist, C.
Wright Mills. The scope of this ideology put prime importance on recognizing the links between
social structure, human experience, and history through the foundation of facts, reliable
information, and statistics (Batan, 2020). As unwavering Western influences such as prejudices
and discrimination have been habitual practices among Filipinos, this became a daily dilemma
for every scholar to push through resistance to ignorance about statistical realities.

In the context of youth unemployment, Cornelio (2016) presents that many Filipino
youths are not as wealthy as the older generation thinks. They live in extremely confined
environments. He added that in April 2016, 50 % of the unemployed were between the ages of
15 and 24. In addition, Filipino youths are often universalized as entitled, happy-go-lucky, and
tech-savvy individuals. This exhibits misunderstanding because the older generation refuses to
acknowledge the alarming number of unemployed youths. The bottom line is that Filipinos tend
to nullify quantitative facts and make hasty generalizations out of false beliefs.

Responding to this, Pfannkuch (2011) stated that statistics requires social and data-
based skills. Thus, this correlates to sociological imagination as it enables Filipinos to view both
historical and statistical contexts and not merely on assumptions. For instance, the UN
Secretary-Synthesis General's Report on the Post-2015 Agenda, "The Road to Dignity by
2030," is a transformative platform as it aims to help individuals who lack access to statistical
information to be oriented about societal issues. As a result, it pushes them to examine society
as a whole using statistical data while promoting statistical literacy.

The call for rebranding a Filipino society with a statistically literate population must begin
with the youths or students. Begg et al. (2004) emphasized the societal motivation for placing a
higher focus on statistical literacy in the education curriculum, particularly, to prepare students
to be active and critical citizens. Extensive support for statistics and research should be
advocated in institutions, as both fields nurture students' minds to better comprehend data
(Callingham, 2017).

Furthermore, social media nowadays may be seen as a double-edged sword. However,

grassroots movements in the Philippines about fact-checking and data information have widely
spread in the media trends. The #FackCheckPh and #DataAgainstIgnorance created a lot of
buzz online as this amplifies the goal to objectively fight against disinformation and
misinformation. Bringing together like-minded people who believe in the same cause is a good
sign in their quest for educating others who are blinded by political stances.

With the upcoming national elections, the application of both sociological imagination
and statistical literacy warrants informed decisions and critical thinking that are essential for
nation-building (Ordway, 2017). This highlights the significance of both tools in converting these
people's ideas into a scientifically proven body of knowledge and revitalizing a statistically
inclined Filipino society.

In a nutshell, suppressing Filipino's refusal in recognizing statistical realities can be done

by allowing them to expand their viewpoints from a micro to a macro level through the lens of
the sociological imagination and statistical literacy. Recognizing statistical realities is like tossing
a coin, you flipped it to see things on two sides of it just like assimilating society's two distinct yet
correlational contexts — sociological and statistical.
 REFERENCES:

Begg, A., Pfannkuch, M., Camden, M., Hughes, P., Noble, A., & Wild, C. (2004).

  The school statistics curriculum: Statistics and probability education literature review.

Auckland, New Zealand. Auckland Uniservices Ltd., University of Auckland.

Callingham R. (2007). Assessing statistical literacy: A question of interpretation. Retrieved

from www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/~iase/publications/17/6D1_CALL.pdf

Crossman, A. (2019). How to Use the Sociological Imagination. ThoughtCo.

https://www.thoughtco.com/sociological-imagination-3026756

Cornelio, J. (2016). The Filipino Millennial? Rappler. https://www.rappler.com/voices

/thought-leaders/defining/Filipino-millennial

FEU Academics. (2020). FEU Public Intellectual Lecture Series | Dr. Clarence Batan

| Part 1 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPBWw46YP2Q

&t=1694s

Ordway, D. (2021). Fake news and the spread of misinformation: A research roundup. The

Journalist’s Resource. https://journalistsresource.org/politics-and-government/fake-

news-conspiracy-theories-journalism-research/?

fbclid=IwAR2HwylASRE1NY_v_NzCPDCodVfD2h_qrvbfrEC7tsiiEvjFg5JaBB8hYeg

Pfannkuch, M. (2011) The Role of Context in Developing Informal Statistical

Inferential Reasoning: A Classroom Study, Mathematical Thinking and Learning, 

13:1-2, 27-46, DOI: 10.1080/10986065.2011.538302