Survey Says: Using Course Long Projects to Connect Statistics to the Real World

1. Survey Says: Using Course Long Projects to Connect Statistics to the Real World AMATYC Meeting November 2007 Minneapolis, MN Johnny Duke, Ph.D. Georgia Highlands College Rome, Georgia jduke@highlands.edu www.highlands.edu/academics/divisions/math/SurveySays.ppt

2. Survey Says • Connections • NCTM Process Standard • Connections among the various areas of mathematics. • Connections between mathematics and the real world.

3. Survey Says • Advice from the American Statistical Association • “… students should have the experience of applying their learning in settings as real as possible during their education. This could include co-ops, summer jobs, class projects …” Ritter, Starbuck, and Hogg

4. Survey Says • Introduction to Statistics is a service course at Shorter College and at Georgia Highlands. • A variety of majors: Business, Biology, Ecology, Middle Grades Education, Mathematics, Social Sciences, History • Concern that learning was disjointed and isolated from real life. • First conceived of a semester long project while working with Service Learning.

5. Survey Says • Goals • Connect what was being learned in class with a real life application. • Connect the various elements of introductory statistics to each other. • Learn to use technological tools (calculators and computers) to organize and present data. • Give students an experience that would help prepare them for the use of statistics in their future careers.

6. Survey Says • Volunteerism Survey: Collecting Data • Creation of a survey instrument • What types of data are needed? • How to word the instrument for clarity. • Types of sampling techniques • Random Sample • Systematic Sample • Stratified Sample • Cluster Sample • Convenience Sample

7. Survey Says • Volunteerism Survey: Organizing Data • Database Entry • Standardize entry for consolidation • Frequency Distributions • Categorical • Ungrouped and Grouped • Graphs • Bar graphs • Pie Charts

8. Survey Says • Volunteerism Survey: Analyzing Data • Measures of Central Tendency • Measures of Variation • Confidence Intervals • Single Population Hypothesis Testing • Two Population Hypothesis Testing • Did the sampling method appear to make a difference? • How do religious and non-religious volunteers compare?

9. Survey Says • Volunteerism Survey: Presenting Data • Graphs and Charts • Written report • Connection with English • Connection with skills in Introduction to Computers

10. Survey Says • Other projects • Television Sex and Violence Survey 1999 • Data Collection Different • The need for training became apparent • Could be combined with literature research • Presidential Election Polls 2000 and 2004 • Intersected with current political events • Very similar process to Volunteerism Survey • Students learned to use Minitab in 2000 and Excel in 2004

11. Survey Says • Other Projects • Spring 2001 • The groups proposed projects that I could approve or not approve. • I provided a list to help them “brainstorm.” • This made it easier for students to apply statistics to their field/particular interests. • There was unevenness in the amount of statistics used in the projects in terms of correlating to the topics covered in class.

12. Survey Says • Other Projects • Statistical Analysis of SAFE 2002 • An after-school program of the Rome City Schools • Combined Service Learning • Used this project to teach SPSS • By far the most important project • Disappointment with testing error that caused the data to be thrown out

13. Survey Says • Other Projects • Statistical Analysis of the Tax Assessments for Residential Property in Floyd County 2003 • Collection of data from the public records at the Tax Assessor’s Office • Comparison of actual selling prices with the appraised prices in 2002

14. Survey Says • Other projects • Human Body Proportions and the Golden Ratio 2005 • Testing the claims from Internet sites on the Golden Ratio • Data Collection and Entry into Excel • Descriptive Statistics • Confidence Intervals and Hypotheses Testing • Correlation and Linear Regression

15. Survey Says • Other Projects • Local Weather • Local high, low, and precipitation for a month from weather.com • Descriptive stats and graphs using Excel • Probability and probability distributions • Confidence Intervals • Hypothesis Testing • Correlation and Linear Regression

16. Survey Says • Other Projects • Skittles (M&M’s) • Used in Maymester • A much “lighter” project • You can eat the data

17. Survey Says • Ideas from others • Salaries of Major League Baseball Players from USA Today – Wiseman & Chatterjee • Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll—Bolstad, Hunt, & McWhirter • Birth records from North Carolina—Holcomb & Ruffer

18. Survey Says • Ledotler’s List • Salaries of Professors at the University of Iowa • Predicting future student enrollment at U of Iowa • ACT and College Performance • Sports statistics • Automotive Studies • Safety of Iowa Roads • Health-related Issues • Real Estate listing and selling prices • Sales and attendance analysis of a local restaurant • Radio station preferences

19. Survey Says • Grading • Series of worksheets • Total generally equivalent to 1.5 to 2 test grades • Both individual and group work

20. Survey Says • Result of One Student Survey • 94% agreed with “These projects helped me to better understand statistical concepts.” • 82% agreed with “Using the same data set repeatedly has helped me to see there is a range of statistical procedures (techniques) that may be used to investigate/answer the same question.” • 97% agreed with “These projects helped me to learn how to construct graphs and tables for statistical analysis.” • 82% agreed with “Working in groups helped me to learn to communicate statistical ideas.” Holcomb & Ruffer, p. 52

21. Survey Says • What are your questions? • What are your ideas and/or experiences?

22. Print Resources • Bolstad, W. M., Hunt, Lyn A., and McWhirter, Judith L. “Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll Survey in First-Year Service Course in Statistics,” The American Statistician, 55, 145-149. • Duke, Johnny I. “Service Learning: Taking Mathematics into the Real World,” The Mathematics Teacher, 92, 794-796. • Holcomb, John P. And Ruffer, Rochelle L., “Using a Term-Long Project Sequence in Introductory Statistics,” The American Statistician, 54, 49-53. • Kvam, Paul H. “The Effect of Active Learning Methods on Student Retention in Engineering Statistics,” The American Statistician, 54, 136-140.

23. Print Resources • Ledolter, Johannes. “Projects in Introductory Statistics Courses,” The American Statistician, 49, 364-367. • Ritter, Mary Ann, Starbuck, Robert R., and Hogg, Robert V. “Advice From Prospective Employers on Training BS Statisticians,” The American Statistician, 55, 14-18. • Root, Rob and Thorme, Trisha. “Community-Based Projects in Applied Statistics: Using Service-Learning to Enhance Student Understanding,” The American Statistician, 55, 326-331. • Wiseman, Frederick and Chatterjee, Sangit. “Major League Baseball Player Salaries: Bringing Realism into Introductory Statistics Courses,” The American Statistician, 51, 350-352.

24. Internet Resources • http://www.cis.ysu.edu/~jholcomb/projects/projects.htm This site provides the database and materials that accompany the project described in Holcomb and Ruffer’s article. • http://asp.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/salaries/ This is the USA Today site for Major League Baseball salaries from 1988 through the current season. • http://asp.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/salaries/ This is the USA Today site for NFL salaries from the 2000 season to date. • http://www.usatoday.com/sports/nba/salaries00.htm This is the USA Today site for NBA salaries for the 2000/2001 year. • http://www.census.gov/ The official site of the US Census Bureau, which contains a wealth of statistical information.