In this social statistics course, a lot was learned. To be able to be successful in the course we had to learn how to use IBM SPSS, RStudio, and to do the different calculations by hand. There was a lot to start with as most of the students in class had no idea what the two programs being used were. At first, we had to get comfortable with those to be able to progress in the class. Once learned they were not hard to use. These programs really helped when it came to helping us with adding on to our findings to show if what we did last semester worked or not. When coming up with our manuals, it helped me to have the information stick into my head as I had to do different chapters to help with some others or sometimes I had to redo one to see if it worked with my variables I needed to use.
What was learned in this class was interesting. I have never taken any form of statistics before this class, but had seen some insight. In the beginning of the class was the easier stuff like mean, median, mode, and range. Those pretty much everyone knew. As we got about midway in the class is when we started learning the newer things. At first it seemed like a lot, but overall it was not terrible. Most of the time when you learned one new thing you used it in a different chapter to help you find something else. For example, we learned variance and how to find standard deviation. In the next chapter we needed to know how to find the standard deviation to be able to calculate the confidence intervals of given data. For me, doing these by hand is more satisfying as all of these can go together in a way to be able to solve different problems.
After learning by hand we learned how to do them in the two different programs. At first it seemed overwhelming, it was a lot to take in, but after a few chapters it started to become a little easier. In the beginning we learned how to navigate the programs and how to recode variables in the programs which helped us tremendously later on. Recoding variables into different variables helped us to be able to do a T-Test or a Chi-Square as they needed to be recoded into smaller groups as we had some variables that had more than two answers or they were 0-10 variables. I think knowing this is what helped us the most as we had to use it more than the other chapters. When it came to some of the later chapters they were simple, but knowing how to do them by hand first made it easier to put them online as we knew what to look for when we were putting them in.
As a soon to be graduate, it is important that I know as much as possible for either future employers or even graduate school. It is very important that you know what you have to offer for future jobs or schooling. Knowing how to do these now is helpful for us if we are wanting to go further in statistics classes. If we enjoyed this class then it is an option to go further, but if we did not then we have this knowledge for if we need it in the future. Not every place will want you to know how to use these programs, but it will make someone stick out more on their resume.
Knowing how to use these programs for future jobs can be really helpful. There is a need for people who know how to use these programs in the field. This is our little push to get us to go further with this information. Jobs are more likely to hire a person if they have that basis. Not every job wants that basis, but it raises our chances of getting that job. Some jobs are more willing to have further training if you have a slight base in that field, which gives us that little step forward as we graduate.
Some master’s programs may not require you to know how to do statistics, but others do. It can be really helpful to have a slight head start into this as it can make the class easier. Knowing how to start in a class will make the rest of the class easier as you have a good start. Not every person thinks this way, but it really is helpful. It gives you that little push as you know what you are doing and you want to be able to see how much you really know. I had this happen in a different class in the beginning of my college career and it made my life 1000 times easier. It helps in the long run as you may want to take more classes centered around this topic or other classes you may take may center around this topic.
With this information, I will have it for when I need it. I am not 100 percent sure if I am going to go to graduate school or not, but I will be able to access this information when I need it. We also have the option of putting what we learned in our resumes for future employers to see. This can help us if we apply for jobs more centered around data analysis or some jobs around statistics. I am still not sure where I am going with my future, but it is always helpful to have these skills as I will never know when they are needed but I will have them at standby for when they are. As for now, I will have this information put aside until I need it, but will refer back to it as I am applying for graduate school or jobs if it is necessary.