8210 Week 3 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

Assignment Task Part 1

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 Task Part 2

Respond to at least one colleagues’ post with a comment of 125 words with including intext citations on the presentation and interpretation of their analysis. In your response, address the following questions:

1. Was the presentation of results clear? If so, provide some specific comments on why. If not, provide constructive suggestions.

2. Are you able to understand how the results might relate back to positive social change? Do you think there are other aspects of positive social change related to the results?

Submission and Grading Information

Grading Criteria

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8210 Week 3

Learning Resources

Required Readings

Frankfort-Nachmias, C., Leon-Guerrero, A., & Davis, G. (2020). Social statistics for a diverse society (9th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

· Chapter 3, “Measures of Central Tendency” (pp. 75-111)

· Chapter 4, “Measures of Variability” (pp. 113-150)

Wagner, III, W. E. (2020). Using IBM® SPSS® statistics for research methods and social science statistics (7th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

1. Chapter 4, “Organization and Presentation of Information”

2. Chapter 11, “Editing Output”

Datasets

Your instructor will post the datasets for the course in the Doc Sharing section

Announcement. Your instructor may also recommend using a different dataset from the ones provided here.

Required Media

Walden University, LLC. (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

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