Assignment 1: Working with Descriptive Statistics

Due Friday

1. Review M1A2,
   the SPSS Tutorial on Data Handling, from this and what you
   now know after having read chapters 5-7 in the textbook by George and
   Mallery (pp. 72-79 specifically), and having completed the SPSS
   Tutorial on Data Handling in Module 1,
   generate a question that you may have that the data in M1A2,
   could answer. For example (and now you cannot use this question)
   “What is the number of student participants in the study by year in
   college?
2. Next, open SPSS, and locate
   the M1A2 file that you generated when you completed
   that assignment. Using the skills that you learned after
   completing M1A2, the SPSS Tutorial on Data Handling,
   the reading and lessons in chapters 5-7 in the textbook by George and
   Mallery (pp. 72-79 specifically),and parts 1 & 2 in the Steinberg
   textbook (pp. 43-47 specifically), run the descriptive statistic that
   will answer your question.
3. Create a histogram. You may
   want to superimpose a normal curve on it. Feel free to use other tables
   and graphs. MOST IMPORTANTLY, KEEP THIS SIMPLE; THE QUESTION THAT
   YOU ASK IS DESCRIPTIVE. HOW MUCH, HOW OFTEN. USE ONLY ONE
   STATISTIC AND ONE VARIABLE AT A TIME. DO NOT ASK A QUESTION WITH
   TWO VARIABLES. WE ARE DOING DESCRIPTIVE STATISTICS. WE ARE NOT DOING
   INFERENTIAL STATS
   YET.
4. Compare the look of your
   graph to the statistics on Table 5 (located in theModule 2online
   lecture under Characterizing Frequency Distributions (1 of 2).
5. Discuss what you found. How
   did running the descriptive statistic answer your question?
   Interpret the data in terms of the behavior of each variable. Use the vocabulary
   and statistical language presented in this module to describe your graph
   and findings.
6. Discuss your finding with
   your classmates by commenting on at least two of your peers’ posts and
   responding to what is written about your post byWednesday, January
   28, 2015.
7. As you describe what you
   found, be sure you give credit to any sources (our textbooks etc.) where
   you paraphrase or quote definitions, meanings etc. and use APA style in
   your works cited/bibliography at the end of your paper.

Discuss these findings with your classmates and instructor
online.

Your attached file with the results of the analysis needs to be in Microsoft
Word format.

(During your dissertation days, you will examine your own data
yourself much the way we are doing it in this section if you collect
quantitative data)

All written assignments and responses should follow APA rules
for attributing sources.