06198 - 3 pages within 6 hrs

Week 1 - Discussion 

Your initial discussion thread is due on Day 3 (Thursday) and you have until Day 7 (Monday) to respond to your classmates. Your grade will reflect both the quality of your initial post and the depth of your responses. Refer to the Discussion Forum Grading Rubric under the Settings icon above for guidance on how your discussion will be evaluated.

Data Analysis

For this discussion, you will organize data sets into meaningful number groupings, calculate basic descriptive values, and communicate written critiques of statistical analyses.

This exercise requires the use of a descriptive statistics calculator.  You can find this tool in some versions of Excel (as part of the Analysis ToolPak) or you can use one of the many free online descriptive calculators such as the  Descriptive Statistics Calculator (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. by Calculator Soup.  

To begin, come up with 20 different data points (that will form a set of data) and enter them into the first column of an Excel spreadsheet.  The data points can be any numbers you want as long as there are 20 of them. 

You will then use the descriptive statistics option in your descriptive statistics program or calculator.  This is explained in Chapter 1 of your course text.  You should get an output similar to the image in Figure 1.1. 

This output must contain the following values: mean, standard error, median, mode, standard deviation, sample variance, kurtosis, skewness, range, minimum, maximum, sum, and count.  Address the following points in your initial post:

· Begin your discussion by reporting your results for each of the values listed above. 

· Based on this output, which single value best describes this set of data and why? 

· If you could pick three of these values instead of only one, which three would you choose and why? 

It is important to note that the answers to these questions may be different for each of you since you are each using unique sets of data.    

Guided Response: Review several of your classmates’ posts. Provide a substantive response to at least three of your peers, and respond to comments on your post.  Do you agree with your classmate’s selection of the best value based upon their data?  What suggestions might you make for other options? Explain your suggestions citing relevant information from the article and/or your text. Cite your sources in APA format as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.

For this exercise, you may elect to use the "Analysis ToolPak" within Excel.  This feature is already part of the 2007 and 2010 Excel program for Windows; however, it must be activated.  The following directions were provided by the Help function within Excel.  If you experience issues while following these steps, utilize the Help function within Excel or contact Microsoft's technical support for Excel.

The Analysis ToolPak includes the tools described below. To access these tools, click Data Analysis in the Analysis group on the Data tab. If the Data Analysis command is not available, you need to load the Analysis ToolPak add-in program.

Load the Analysis ToolPak:

1.  Click the File tab, click Options, and then click the Add-Ins category. 2.  In the Manage box, select Excel Add-ins and then click Go. 3.  In the Add-Ins available box, select the Analysis ToolPak check box, and then click OK.

Required Resources

Text

Read from the course text,  Statistics for the Behavioral & Social Sciences :

· Chapter 1: Quantitative Problem Solving

· Chapter 2: Illustrating Data

Articles

Berglund, K., Roman, E., Balldin, J., Berggren, U., Eriksson, M., Gustavsson, P., & Fahlke, C. (2011). Do men with excessive alcohol consumption and social stability have an addictive personality?  Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 52(3), 257-260.  Retrieved from the EBSCOhost database.

· This article contains descriptive statistics as part of the analysis of its basic hypothesis.  It will be used to complete the written assignment this week. Accessibility Statement Privacy Statement

Website

The Critical Thinking Community. (http://www.criticalthinking.org)

· This is a website for a great organization which teaches and promotes the main tenets of critical thinking.  There are some excellent articles that can help you better understand what critical thinking is and how to utilize it in everyday life. Accessibility Statement does not exist Privacy Policy

Recommended Resources

Multimedia

Ashford University. (2013). Finding an article when you have the citation[Tutorial]. Retrieved from the Ashford University Library.

· This online tutorial assists students with searching for articles in the various databases held within the Ashford University Library. It is recommended that you peruse and access the other useful tutorials provided by the library. Accessibility Statement Privacy Policy

Calculator Soup. (2013). Descriptive statistics calculator. Retrieved from: http://www.calculatorsoup.com/calculators/statistics/descriptivestatistics.php

· This is a free online calculator that will calculate the descriptive statistics for any data set you enter.  This will be useful for answering the questions in the second discussion post this week. Accessiblity Statement does not exist Privacy Policy

Collier, S. (Writer & Producer). (1996). Describing Data [Video file]. In Why use statistics? Retrieved from the Films On Demand Database.

· This video provides an interesting discussion and examples of how descriptive statistics may be used in social science research. Accessibility Statement Privacy Statement

Davidson College. (2002). Lab #7: A beginner’s guide for descriptive statistics. Retrieved from http://www.bio.davidson.edu/courses/bio111/bio111labman/lab%207.html

· This is a helpful link to a lab on basic descriptive statistics from Davidson College.  It provides information on descriptive statistics and walks you through the formulas for several descriptive statistics values, such as the mean, median, and mode.  This will be useful if you want to calculate descriptive statistics by hand.

Websites

VassarStats: Website for Statistical Computation. (http://vassarstats.net)

· This website includes tools to calculate many of the statistical tests we cover in this course including t-tests, ANOVA, correlation, and regression.  Each calculator includes a tutorial and/or walkthrough.

Web Center for Social Research Methods. (http://socialresearchmethods.net)

· This website includes links to numerous tools and tutorials relating to statistical concepts, calculations, and scale development.