Descriptive Statistics

Quantitative data analysis offers us the opportunity to observe and report on the characteristics of key variables in our population of interest. A visual scan of descriptive data can help us surmise where the strongest relationships between variables may exist, which can then be tested using inferential statistics. To provide you with some hands-on experience with descriptive data, we will make use of one of the most extensive data sets available, the United States Census. Use the following steps to guide your submission for this week’s forum:

Go to http://census.gov (Links to an external site.)
 (Links to an external site.)Under Surveys/Programs, Click on Current Population Survey
In the left hand column, click on Data
Scroll down the page and select one of the “Current Population Survey Tables…” links.
Select one of the table links to click.
Select “All Races” and download the corresponding spreadsheet.
Using the data provided in the spreadsheet, create a presentation in a video describing what you consider to be the most relevant descriptive statistics. These should provide an overview of general patterns in the data (e.g., age, income, gender identity, race/ethnicity, etc.) and include some measures of central tendency (i.e., Mean, Median, or Mode) and ranges.
In addition to making your report, include a brief reflection describing any “aha” moments you experienced (i.e., aspects of the process that now make sense to you), and any points about quantitative data analysis that seem muddy or unclear.