Statistics 101

Early this morning, my advisors and I had a conference call over skype (using Web 2.0 technology) to talk about how our research is developing and what we are doing with the data. 

Skype conference call

I have taken a class last semester that forced me make graphs and collect data in Microsoft Excel. Little did I know that there was so much more to putting numbers into a graph. Microsoft Excel is good for starters, but I will learn how to use Xpss on Friday! Xpss is a more professional software for statistical analysis. I am very excited to expand my technological palate and make a parallel between Excel and Xpss.

Excel

xpss

When you are dealing with data similar to what I am collecting, you have to think about the difference between qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative data is observed but not measured, it also deals with descriptions. An example of qualitative data could be colors. Quantitative data can be measured, and it deals with numbers.  An example of quantitative data could be a group of adults ages. 

Now that we have a mutual understanding of qualitative and quantitative data, there are three major characteristics of a single variable that we tend to look at. Those characteristics are the distribution, the central tendency, and the dispersion. To the average person these terms look a bit foreign and outlandish. The distribution is an arrangement of values of a variable showing their observed or frequent occurrence. Central tendency is an estimate of the center of a distribution of values. There are three subcategories attached to central tendency and they are the famous mean, median, and mode. Lets review mean, median, and mode quickly so that we can get the elephant out of the room. Mean is the average, median is the number in the middle, and mode is the number that occurs the most. The third major characteristic of a variable is the dispersion. The dispersion measures how the various elements behave such as a location, and it usually coincides with the mean as well as range.  

We are up to 17 teachers who have taken the survey! Stay tuned for more data updates :)