Enhancing Teamwork and Statistical Knowledge Application through Problem-Based Learning: A Data-Driven Study in Information and Knowledge Management Education

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between problem-based learning (PBL) and the development of teamwork skills within business administration and management education. Specifically, it examines how PBL influences students’ perception, understanding, and application of statistical concepts and how these cognitive factors shape their ability to work collaboratively. A robust analytical framework was employed, beginning with data extraction from online survey data collected using Google Forms, followed by systematic data cleaning, preprocessing, and feature selection to ensure dataset integrity. To empirically evaluate its effectiveness, a dataset comprising 102 students as respondents and 20 attributes, including demographics, learning perceptions, engagement indicators, and teamwork skills as the class attribute, was examined. The attributes capture diverse aspects such as concept comprehension, material suitability, lecturer indication, statistical language proficiency, communication, and interpersonal skills. Exploratory clustering (EM) identified four student groups, with total instances of each group being 46, 10, 36, and 10 instances, respectively. Two clusters show strong teamwork endorsement, one moderate, and one showing lower or neutral teamwork responses, suggesting that PBL’s effect on teamwork is not uniform across learner subgroups. For feature selection, the results depicted that the top three attributes clearly emphasize the central role of interpersonal interaction in shaping students’ perceptions of teamwork development; namely, the highest-ranked attribute is smooth collaboration and communication with colleagues, indicating that consistent effective peer interaction is the strongest determinant of teamwork skill development. The Apriori analysis produced a set of highly associated rules, all of which consistently pointed to age between 21 and 24 as the dominant outcome. The strongest rule showed perfect confidence of 1.0 when combining demographic attributes of those who report the most positive PBL experiences within the age range. Overall, this study provides strong empirical evidence that PBL significantly enhances teamwork skills by promoting active communication, collaborative problem-solving, and deeper understanding of statistical concepts. The findings contribute to curriculum design, teaching innovation, and policy enhancement in business and management education, highlighting PBL as an effective pedagogical strategy for strengthening teamwork competencies in preparation for the demands of contemporary workplaces