EDUR 8131
Educational Statistics 1

Notes 1: Descriptive Statistics

(1) Summary Presentations (these summaries are what I would present if in a face-to-face course; detailed presentations are found below)

• Presentation 1
  • Word Document: Descriptive Statistics and Variables Word
  • Word Document: Descriptive Statistics and Variables PDF
  • Video: Descriptive Statistics and Variables (37 minutes)
• Presentation 2
  • Word Document: Hypotheses and Graphical displays Word
  • Word Document: Hypotheses and Graphical displays PDF
  • Video: Hypotheses and displays (52 minutes)

(2)  JASP Software

Data Entry, Descriptive Statistics, Frequencies, and Graphical Output (Summary Presentation Notes 1)

Note: JASP does not provide frequency tables for numbers with decimals; below is a video showing how to make this work in JASP via a math "hack"

Frequencies for numbers with decimals in JASP (Update: JASP now provides frequencies for numbers with decimals, so this hack is no longer needed.)

(3) Exercises

• Central Tendency, Variability, Graphical Displays (with answers)
• Displaying Data (with answers)

(4) Detailed Presentations (more detailed presentation than the summaries presented above)

• Read: Notes 1 Descriptive Statistics, Variables, Hypotheses, and Graphical Displays  
• Read:
  • Moore et al. text chapters 1, 2, and the section on sampling in chapter 3.
  • Also read pages 402-403 (5th edition), 374-376 (6th edition), or 362-364 (7th edition); in the 8th edition, look for section 6.2 Test of Significance (not sure of page numbers). 
• Read: Displaying Data (frequency distributions, stem-and-leaf, bar charts, histograms, pie charts, box plots, scatterplots)
• Watch and Read: Instructional Videos and Related Materials
  • Supplemental Notes Displayed in Videos
  • Supplemental Excel File Displayed in Videos
  • Section 1: Descriptive vs. Inferential Statistics (also SPSS data entry explained)
  • Section 2: Variables
  • Section 3: Scales of Measurement
  • Section 4: Types of Variables
  • Section 5: (a) Writing Hypotheses
  • Section 5: (b) Practice Writing Hypotheses
  • Section 5: (c) Common Errors When Writing Hypotheses
  • Sections 6, 7, and 8: Central Tendency (also SPSS showing descriptive statistics)
  • Section 9: Distributions and Central Tendency
  • Section 10: Mean of Groups
  • Section 11: Inference and Sampling Error
  • Sections 12 and 13: Measures of Variability (also SPSS examples)
  • *Section 14: Frequency Distribution and Percentile Ranks (SPSS examples; Supplemental Notes for this video)  
  • *Section 15, 16, 17: Graphical Displays (SPSS examples)   
  • Youtube: Videos showing how to create various displays in SPSS
    • Frequencies and Descriptive statistics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrfQfEwjZA4
    • Bar chart: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NeaD1Mojp0
    • Histogram: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06QOdHv68pM
    • Pie Chart: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAhiXaFQLkE
    • Scatterplot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvdCO73S1B0 
    • Boxplots (Box and whisker): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5HgGlzGc-g
    • Looking for others? Just use Google and type "SPSS xxx" where xxx = any type of graph or analysis you want.
• Supplemental Videos
  • Averages: On Average, Swedes have 1.99 Legs (4 minutes)
  • Pie Chart (Polar Area Display): Showing the Dead: Which is more Deadly, Battlefield or Hospital? (4 minutes)
  • Scatterplot: Life Expectancy and Wealth over 200 Years (4 minutes)
•  Supplemental Reading and Exercises:
  • Variables and scales of measurement (variable/constant; scales; quan./qual.; IV/DV)  (practice exercise)
  • Hypotheses (directional/nondirectional/null; qual. vs. quan. wording; categories compared; writing; problematic-no difference between IV and DV, qual. IV affects DV [e.g., type of instruction affects DV]) (practice exercise #1, practice exercise #2)
  • Overview of things to come; read on your own - Descriptive Statistics and Graphical Displays (correlation coefficients and scatterplots) and Inferential Statistics (practice exercise)