Central Tendency and Variability

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  • 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 weeks 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?