MirandaPaige

MATH1040
4/26/16

SKITTLESTERMPROJECT

PART1:

IthinkthatthegraphsarewhatIexpectedtosee,andIinterpretedsothatthetwo
samples(classandindividual)areverysimilar,andhaveonlyalittlebitofadeviation.I
expectedtheamountsofeachcolortobealmostequallythesame,andtheamountineachbag
tobethesame,butitwasinterestingtolearnthatitisntalwaysthecase.Themaximum
numberofskittlesinasinglebagwas75,withaminimumof54.Ifindthisinformationtobe
surprisingbecauseIwouldexpectanequalamount,andnotsuchalargejump.Iwasableto
understandthesenumbersbettersinceIfirststartedthisclass,andIunderstandtheimportance
ofinterpretingthedata.Itsimportantbecauseitcanbeeasytomisinterpret,anditisan
importantaspectisseeinghowalltheinformationcanpiecetogetherandhowtheyrelate.My
owndatafitverywellintothisbecauseitwasverysimilartotheothersamples,anditcanbe
agreedupon.Thegraphswereverysimilarintheproportions,whichgavemefurtherevidence
thatmyownsamplefitinthegroup.

Thegraphsshownbelowareoftheclasssamplecomparedtomyindividualsample.

PART2:
WhileanalyzingthedatafortheSkittlesclassproject,Ifoundthattheamountofskittlesperbag
isntallthesame,andsomeofthedifferenceswerequitelarge.Aftermakingafrequency
histrogram,Isawthatitdidntmakeabellcurveatall.Itwasskewedtotheright,andhadan
outlier.Thisgraphrepresentedthedatawell,butitwasntwhatIexpectedtosee.Ithoughtit
wouldhaveaveryuniformdistribution,butIwasabitsurprisedtoseethatitwasntthecase.
Myowndatafitwellwithinthegraph,andmyowndatawasfairlyrepresentedwithintheclass
mean.Theclassmeanwasabout60candiesperbag,andIhad62inmine.Categoricaldata
(alsoknownasqualitativedata)isverydifferentfromquantitativedata.Categoricaldatasorts
thevaluesbasedoncategoriesthatcannotbeorderedormeasured.Quantitativedatasorts
valuesbasedonordersandmeasurementandhasanumericalvalue.Therearegraphsthat
betterrepresentbothkindsofdatathantheother.Bargraphscanbeagoodrepresentationof
categorical,andshowingtotalamountsofdifferentcategoriesaswellasparetocharts,andpie

charts.Ithelpstovisuallyrepresentthedataandseethedifferences.Somechartsarebetterfor
quantitativesuchashistograms,boxplotsandsummarydata.Thesekindofgraphsaremeant
tomeasurenumericallysignificantvaluesanditcanshowcalculationssuchasthemeanand
standarddeviation.Calculationsinthequantitativecanshowvaluessuchasthequartiles,the
minimumandmaximum.Thesekindofcalculationswouldbedifficulttoseeingraphsmeantfor
differentcategories,butwewouldbeabletovisualizedifferencesinamountsandtrytoanalyze
whatthegraphshows.Insummary,categoricaldataandquantitativedataaretwoseparate
thingswithdifferentwaystoshowthestatisticalvalues.Wecanunderstandmore
mathematicallysignificantdatafromquantitativedata.Wecanalsousecategoricaldatato
organizethevaluestomakesensewheninterpreted.

PART3:

Explainingeneralthepurposeandmeaningofaconfidenceinterval.

Aconfidenceintervalexpresseshowaccuratetheestimateoftheparameterwillbe.Insteadof
givingasinglenumberasanestimate,theconfidenceintervalgivesitabitofspacebetween
twopoints.Inotherwords,itsawaytoestimateaparameter.Italsoisawaytocombinean
intervalestimatewithaprobability.Thewordconfidenceinthistermislikehowitsused
commonly
todescribecertainty(oruncertainty)withanestimate.Forexample,sayingthat
somethinghasa95%confidencelevelmeansthatthetruepopulationwouldfitintheinterval
95%ofthetime.

PART4:

TermProjectReflection

Ifeellikethistermprojecthelpedmeseehowstatisticsinreportsandarticlesare
created.IfeellikeIcanactuallyunderstandwhatcertainterminologymeanswhenIamreading
articles,andIcanunderstandthemethodsofhowtheygottheresults.SinceIamapsychology
major,IhavereadmanystudiesinvolvingstatisticsthatIneverfullyunderstooduntilIstarted
takingthisclass.Now,Icaninterpretwhatcertainthingsmean,andunderstanditwithina
psychologycontext.
IfeellikeIknowalotmoreaboutwhatgoesintomakingstatisticsthanbeforeItookthis
class,butIstillfinditdifficultwhenitcomestoproblemsolving.IfIweretobepresentedwitha
problem,IdontthinkIwouldbeconfidentenoughinknowingwhichmethodstousetosolvethe
problem.Ineedtorevieweverythingtogetitfreshinmyhead,butitcanbeanoverwhelming
amountofinformation.
Projectslikethisskittlesprojecthelpedbreakdowneachstepofgettingtheinformation
thatiswanted.Ilikedthatitwaspiecebypiece,ratherthanonelargechunkofaproject.It
helpedmeunderstandalltheinformationwhileIamlearningitallsoIcanreallyunderstandand
moldmyinformationtofindwhatIneedtosolve.
IdoadmitthatIhaveexperiencedsomedifficultywithsomepartsofthisproject,but
someofmygroupmemberswereabletobreakitdownformeandhelpmeunderstandthe
materialbetter.IfeellikesomeofmygroupmembershadabettergrasponthematerialthanI
didbecauseitrelatedmoretotheirmajorsandtheywereabletoseeitasareallygoodwayto
solvequestionsintheirowncourses.Ididsomethingsreallywell,butIhavemoretolearnand

improveon.Iwanttobeabletorelateitmoretomyfieldandbeabletounderstanditfullywhen
Idoseerelevantstatisticsinresearch.