Imagine you have finished your degree and are seeking your next vocational opportunity. You search various websites that provide you information on mean and median salaries along with standard deviations for job titles you are interested in across different geographic locations. But what do these statistics really tell you? What is your possible earning potential within this job title? How do salaries vary across different locations? Where can you make the most money? What percentages of people in that job title have the salary you are looking for? Descriptive statistics provide you with the answers to these basic questions.
You are exposed to descriptive statistics every day and in many different ways. As Wheelan (2013) suggested, “descriptive statistics give us insight into phenomena that we care about” (p. 31). As you consider descriptive statistics in your daily life, also think about how understanding these data can propel you to the next level of developing your knowledge and skill set in quantitative analysis.
In this week, you will examine descriptive statistics to measure central tendency and variability. You also will explore the results of the data to determine implications for social change.
Learning Objectives
Students will:
· Analyze measures of central tendency
· Analyze measures of variability
· Analyze implications for positive social change
· Analyze descriptive statistics of categorical data
Learning Resources
Required Readings
Frankfort-Nachmias, C., & Leon-Guerrero, A. (2018). Social statistics for a diverse society (8th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
· Chapter 3, “Measures of Central Tendency” (pp. 63-93)
· Chapter 4, “Measures of Variability” (pp. 94-127)
Wagner, W. E. (2016). Using IBM® SPSS® statistics for research methods and social science statistics (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
· Chapter 4, “Organization and Presentation of Information”
· Chapter 11, “Editing Output”
Datasets
Document: Data Set 2014 General Social Survey (dataset file)
Use this dataset to complete this week’s Discussion.
Note: You will need the SPSS software to open this dataset.
Document: Data Set Afrobarometer (dataset file)
Use this dataset to complete this week’s Assignment.
Note: You will need the SPSS software to open this dataset.
Document: High School Longitudinal Study 2009 Dataset (dataset file)
Use this dataset to complete this week’s Assignment.
Note: You will need the SPSS software to open this dataset.
Required Media
Laureate Education (Producer). (2016d). Descriptive statistics [Video file]. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Note: The approximate length of this media piece is 7 minutes.
In this media program, Dr. Matt Jones demonstrates the procedures used for central tendency and variability using SPSS software. Focus on how this demonstration might support your analysis in this week’s Assignment.
Optional Resources
Wheelan, C. (2013). Naked statistics: Stripping the dread from data. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.
Skill Builders:
· Measures of Central Tendency for Continuous Variables
· Standard Deviation as a Measure of Variability for Continuous Variables
· Measures of Central Tendency and Variability for Categorical Variables
To access these Skill Builders, navigate back to your Blackboard Course Home page, and locate “Skill Builders” in the left navigation pane. From there, click on the relevant Skill Builder link for this week.
You are encouraged to click through these and all Skill Builders to gain additional practice with these concepts. Doing so will bolster your knowledge of the concepts you’re learning this week and throughout the course.
Discussion: Central Tendency and Variability
Understanding descriptive statistics and their variability is a fundamental aspect of statistical analysis. On their own, descriptive statistics tell us how frequently an observation occurs, what is considered “average”, and how far data in our sample deviate from being “average.” With descriptive statistics, we are able to provide a summary of characteristics from both large and small datasets. In addition to the valuable information they provide on their own, measures of central tendency and variability become important components in many of the statistical tests that we will cover. Therefore, we can think about central tendency and variability as the cornerstone to the quantitative structure we are building.
For this Discussion, you will examine central tendency and variability based on two separate variables. You will also explore the implications for positive social change based on the results of the data.
To prepare for this Discussion:
· Review this week’s Learning Resources and the Descriptive Statistics media program.
· For additional support, review the Skill Builder: Visual Displays for Categorical Variables and the Skill Builder: Visual Displays for Continuous Variables, which you can find by navigating back to your Blackboard Course Home Page. From there, locate the Skill Builder link in the left navigation pane.
· Review the Chapter 4 of the Wagner text and the examples in the SPSS software related to central tendency and variability.
· From the General Social Survey dataset found in this week’s Learning Resources, use the SPSS software and choose one continuous and one categorical variable Note: this dataset will be different from your Assignment dataset).
· As you review, consider the implications for positive social change based on the results of your data.
By Day 3
Post, present, and report a descriptive analysis for your variables, specifically noting the following:
For your continuous variable:
1. Report the mean, median, and mode.
2. What might be the better measure for central tendency? (i.e., mean, median, or mode) and why?
3. Report the standard deviation.
4. How variable are the data?
5. How would you describe this data?
6. What sort of research question would this variable help answer that might inform social change?
Post the following information for your categorical variable:
1. A frequency distribution.
2. An appropriate measure of variation.
3. How variable are the data?
4. How would you describe this data?
5. What sort of research question would this variable help answer that might inform social change?
Be sure to support your Main Post and Response Post with reference to the week’s Learning Resources and other scholarly evidence in APA Style.
Assignment: Introduction to Quantitative Analysis: Descriptive Analysis
In this Assignment, you will differentiate between the proper use of summary statistics for categorical and continuous level data. In this exercise, you will explore what output is provided for each of these variables and provide some meaning from these statistics for your reader. The ability to place the statistics into a context that your reader understands and can make sense of is a highly desirable skill.
For this Introduction to Quantitative Analysis: Descriptive Analysis Assignment, you will examine the same two variables you used from your Week 2 Assignment and perform the appropriate descriptive analysis of the data given.
To prepare for this Assignment:
· Review this week’s Learning Resources and the Central Tendency and Variability media program.
· For additional support, review the Skill Builder: Measures of Central Tendency for Continuous Variables, Skill Builder: Standard Deviation as a Measure of Variability for Continuous Variables and the Skill Builder: Measures of Central Tendency and Variability for Categorical Variables, which you can find by navigating back to your Blackboard Course Home Page. From there, locate the Skill Builder link in the left navigation pane.
· Using the SPSS software, open the Afrobarometer dataset or the High School Longitudinal Study dataset from your Assignment in Week 2.
· Choose the same two variables you chose from your Week 2 Assignment and perform the appropriate descriptive analysis of the data.
· Once you perform your descriptive analysis, review Chapter 11 of the Wagner text to understand how to copy and paste your output into your Word document.
Write a 2- to 3-paragraph analysis of your descriptive analysis results and include a copy and paste your output from your analysis into your final document.
Based on the results of your data, provide a brief explanation of what the implications for social change might be.
Use appropriate APA format, citations and referencing. Refer to the APA manual for appropriate citation.