Stats

Descriptive Statistics Data Analysis

[WLOs: 1, 3] [CLOs: 2, 3, 5]

Prior to beginning work on this assignment, review Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 in your course textbook, Chapter 3 in the Jarman e-book, the Week 1 Instructor Guidance, and review the Module 2: Describing Data  video and the Khan Academy video on Interquartile Range (IQR) (Links to an external site.). Also, complete the Week 1 learning activity and Week 1 weekly review.

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.) by Calculator Soup.

Your instructor will post an announcement with the data set for your Week 1 assignment.

First, use either Excel or the Calculator Soup descriptive statistics calculator to calculate the descriptive statistics for the given data set. This is explained in Chapter 1 of your course text.

You should get an output similar to the image in Figure 1.3 from your textbook. This output must contain the following values: mean, standard error, median, mode, standard deviation, sample variance, kurtosis, skewness, range, minimum, maximum, sum, and count.

Next, begin writing your paper by reporting your results for each of the values listed above.

Include the data set, the output from the analysis, and the answers to the following questions:

• Evaluate the measures of central tendency. Address the following when completing this component:
  • Which measure of central tendency is most appropriate based on the data type?
  • Are the mean, median, and mode close to the same value? If not, what does this tell you about the numbers in the set?
  • Identify any mode(s) in the data set. Is there a mode at all? Is there more than one mode?
• Calculate manually the interquartile range and the values of Q1 and Q3. (It is important to calculate this manually because the interquartile range and quartiles output from Calculator Soup might not be accurate.) Address the following when completing this component:
  • Test to see if there are any outliers in the set. If so, which number(s)?
  • Which method from Section 2.4 of the text did you first use to check for outliers?
  • Now try the other method from Section 2.4 of the text. Do you come to the same conclusion about outliers in the data set?
• Explain which descriptive statistic you think best summarizes this set of numbers and why.
• Choose three of the descriptive statistics that you feel best represent this data set. Why were they chosen?

The Descriptive Statistics Data Analysis assignment

• Must be two to three double-spaced pages in length (not including title and references pages) and formatted according to APA Style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s APA Style (Links to an external site.)
• Must include a separate title page with the following:
  • Title of paper
  • Student’s name
  • Course name and number
  • Instructor’s name
  • Date submitted

For further assistance with the formatting and the title page, refer to APA Formatting for Word 2013 (Links to an external site.).

• Must include an introduction and conclusion paragraph. Your introduction paragraph needs to end with a clear statement that indicates the purpose of your paper, to report and explain your analysis of the data set.
  • For assistance on writing Introductions & Conclusions (Links to an external site.), refer to the Ashford Writing Center resources.
• Must use the course text and Excel or the Descriptive Statistics Calculator (Links to an external site.).
• Must document any information used from sources in APA Style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center’s APA: Citing Within Your Paper (Links to an external site.)

Must include a separate references page that is formatted according to APA Style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. See the APA: Formatting Your References List (Links to an external site.) resource in the Ashford Writing Center for specifications.