Ask+Dr+B

When looking at the three types of variables (measurement, categorical and count) I'm having trouble understanding what count is. The homework on page 22 asks us to apply these to the PIQ survey we did. I know this was a question from class that we haven't yet gotten to but since we have a quiz on Monday I thought you might be able to explain it quickly here? Knowing some examples from the PIQ survey would help. Thanks! See if p 13 helps where it is defined and has examples. If not helpful, make sure you ask group on Monday and then put it on board for a problem for discussion.

I have a question regarding the writing assignment. Is it assumed that you are the intended audience for our paper, or should we assume that our audience has no prior knowledge of the process of statistical investigation and we need to explain each of the steps in the process? I am currently assuming the latter and my paper is closer to 3 pages. You need to describe how the Lunchroom project is utilizing each component of the process. You do not need to explain each step per se, but have to let me know how the Lunchroom project is // utilizing // each step. The // Clear // component of the rubric also says each component of the process needs to be addressed (vs defined). Does that help? I think so. I think I may be spending too much time explaining what each step entails. After I explain the step, I offer an example from the article. After reading your response, I think I need to go back and discuss the steps of the process in the context of the Lunchroom Project. Hopefully, my revision will shorten my paper to the appropriate length. Thank you.

Do you want a separate "Works Cited" page for our writing assignment since we are citing examples from the article? If you do take quotes from the article or make references to other works, you should cite them and you can include a separate reference page. But you do not need to count it as one of the "one to two pages" for your writing. Just to clarify what we are supposed to do to "edit" our pilot survey. Are we re-wording and re-ordering what we have left after omitting those few this morning? Or are we choosing which ones we really want to keep on our final draft? I just re-worded and re-ordered them, and then timed myself taking it. Thanks!! You are not eliminating any items unless you believe there are duplicates. What you have done is just fine. For the AHE, p. 48 #2, did you want us to use the data on p. 31 or the data we entered into our calculators in class? If this is the birth month problem, use our data. In fact, you could make two plots and compare them! Later, you are asked to use height data from p 31. Since we haven't collected our class height data, go ahead and use the data on p 31. Thanks!

HELP! I am completely stuck on the homework for Monday. I do not understand how I can fill in the comparison table on pg. 67 without knowing at least one of the values. I have the data for the first table, which you gave us at the end of class. I used that data to fill in the totals around the outside of the second table. After that, I'm stuck. Any hint you could give to nudge me along would be greatly appreciated. -Marcia Moore (Sorry! I wasn't logged in when I first posted this question) Did you fill in the value "2" for Right-Thumbed/Right-Eyed and "28" for Total/Total on the second table? Those were also put up in class. I almost missed copying those down! - Bettina My guess is she missed those, so thanks, Bettina, for the suggestion. Marcia, all things okay now? Yes, thank you, Bettina, for the help. I did not catch the "2" in class. I should be all set now.

I can not seem to find the final survey questions. I went to google doc. and found the final survey data, but not the questions. I also looked in my email, so where am I forgetting? Thanks! it should be in an email I sent on Wed. I forwarded it again to you but the email address says Vliek.

Yes I got the email, thank-you!

oct-20 I would be interested in a morning study group. I can be there between 7:20-7:30 OCT.26 For some reason my email froze, so hopefully others will read this.... In response to the email about our project, I have it written down that we were saying the time data was going to be Cat. Hope that helps and that I am right in my understanding. ~Everyone please bring in their 1st part of the project so we can have the due date pushed back and get a little extra time. :D Good reminder Tara. At least, I think it's Tara. who's D?

It's a smile, not just a D, that makes me laugh a bit. :) I see the smile now in the : D. Tha't's more like a LOL. I'm used to the other one : ). Thanks for clarifying. : D

Today in class, we discussed different ways to find the average value of a data set. On our "Definitions" page we define "mode" as the //number// that is repeated most often in a data set. In class, we said that when we are identifying the average for categorical variables, such as eye color, we are finding the mode. Would it be more accurate to define "mode" as the outcome of a given variable that occurs most frequently? We'll come back to mode later and double check that "definition" later but I think you've got a point to consider: does the mode always have to be a number? Good question. So don't forget to bring it up in class when we return to the idea of mode next week.

~Tara Chumita I would like to sit closer to the front of the class please. Have a great Halloween

I am trying to do a circle graph on my calculator. And i remember doing this with you in our study group before the exam and the samet thing popped up (Err:invalid dim) and i cannot for the life of me figure out what we did to fix it. I go to the one we did in the group and we it works but when i try to do it on my own i cannot figure out why it isn't working. Help! Jessica Go back to the problem in the text from Chapter 1 that first had you make the circle graph. There should be info to remind you of what you need to do to make a circle graph and then you can determine what you're forgetting to do. Keep trying. I have already done that. My lists are even. Will it do that if i have too many categories? Is there a limit on the number of categories??? Try it and see.

Dr. B - I know that you wanted our evaluations filled out to turn in on Wednesday, but I can't find the email they were attached to. Could you please email me one again? Thanks! Angel

I am in the same boat as Angel, I went back through all my emails again looking for it and could not find it. I thought maybe I missed it amongst all the wiki up dates and everything else, but still didn't find it. ~Tara

Dr. B - I am trying to do the AHE. I am on pg.133 and I am confused. For #4 we were asked to find the standard deviations from the mean, which was 105: at first I thought that I just took the values given in part a. and find the absolute value of their distances from the mean (Ex. 108-105=3, with 3 being the standard deviation from the mean). Then I looked back through the readings and realized I was finding the mean deviation. Then I looked at #5 and it looks like the standard deviations listed were mean deviations. **Then** I read through problem 6 and found the formula for the z-score. Is that the formula I should use in #4 to find the standard deviation? Is the standard deviation and the z-score the same thing? I've been re-reading these problems over and over along with the previous readings and my notes, and it just isn't "clicking." Please HELP!!!

1st question: p 133, #4. Notice you aren't given the SD but the variance. Okay, so you work a bit to find the SD which is the square root of the variance. Part a asks "how many SDs is 108 from the mean. You are correct in that the distance of 108 from 105 (the mean) is 3 but how many SDs is that??? You're having to think with a different unit. Kind of like "you are 5 ft away from me. Okay but how many inches is that??" You have to convert the 5 ft into inches. So "convert" the 3 units into SDs. Each SD is 10 (remember, square root of variance). So 3 is how many "10s"? The result won't be a whole #, will it?? #5 asks similar questions and then in #6, a rule (along with new vocabulary "z-score") is presented that should follow the same reasoning used in #4 and 5. See if that helps something click.

So, I think I am understanding that the z-score is the way to convert those 3 units into SDs. For #4 part a, I said that 108 was a distance of 3 from the mean, which was 105. Since the SD was 10, I divided 3 by 10 to see how many "10s" 3 was, and I ended up saying that 108 was .3 standard deviations from the mean. Am I on the right track?

OK- don't laugh, but I was in the shower this morning and everything just clicked. The z-score is used to find the fraction or the multiple of the standard deviation that each individual data value is from the mean, given the SD. I think when I was doing the AHE I was only thinking of the SD for the data set and I was stuck on how that would differ for the individual values, but I think I've got it now. Thanks for your help... unless I am way off track, and in that case I would still appreciate a nudge back in the right direction :)