210U WK3 Disc

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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 Statisticsmedia program.
  • For additional support, review the Skill Builder: Visual Displays for Categorical Variablesand the Skill Builder: Visual Displays for Continuous Variables.
  • 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?

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.
    • Chapter 4, “Organization and Presentation of Information”
    • Chapter 11, “Editing Output”

Optional Resources

  • Wheelan, C. (2013). Naked statistics: Stripping the dread from data. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.