At the beginning of this course, I was nervous and not quite sure what to expect. Statistics have never been a strong subject for me and I viewed this course as a way to only help me get my diploma. I was not expecting to be a part of a project with interactive research that hopefully will benefit people and become a large program in the future. While I have learned about qualitative and quantitative research in the past, getting to apply and expand on that knowledge was insightful. I have learned how to analyze data that I was able to help collect and interpret what we received into numbers as well as how to understand what the data was saying. Using different types of tests to help understand this data was very useful. I had never heard of programs such as R-Studio Cloud and SPSS prior to this course.
Prior to this course, I didn’t realize how useful collecting and analyzing data was. I have used scientific data to write different papers, but have never fully been able to understand the numbers that went along with it. I also have never done my own research which required me to take data and create these graphs and charts, then explain to other people what they meant. Being able to complete a research project from helping create the survey, to interpreting and explaining the data to others, has made me realize how important it is to understand how to conduct your own research.
While challenging, this course helped me see statistics in a more positive light. I wanted to try and understand as much as I could while taking this course. With statistics being a harder subject for me to grasp, it was important to me that I work to understand what I was learning as opposed to just getting the work done. While I did have tough moments throughout the course, I pushed myself to learn and understand as much as I could. I still don’t know everything about statistics, nor will I ever, but after taking this class I feel more confident in my researching skills.
Understanding how to collect and interpret data is extremely important for everyone to understand. The world is consistently changing and is always in need of more research, data, and ways to help improve or to help figure out what causes certain problems within our society. Being able to understand how to identify problems and come up with data that people can understand so that changes can be made will help people understand the importance of what is being studied.
People like and trust research that is shown through numbers. While it’s easy to just trust what people are telling you, it is also important to know how to either back up or disprove the data that other people have conducted. Understanding how to read data, helps prevent people from trying to convince you with what they believe as opposed to the facts.
As of right now, I hope to become a paralegal, and maybe even pursue law school in the future. Research is vital in the legal field. Things are constantly changing and can always be improved within the judicial system. Hopefully in the future, I’ll be able to use the knowledge I have learned from this class and conduct my own research that can better what I am doing. One thing I have always been interested in, is the satisfaction of people’s experience with public defense attorneys. If given the opportunity, I would love to use the knowledge I have gained from this course to conduct some type of research to help improve where I am working or just to collect data for people to see.