Throughout this course I have learned a variety of new hard skills to use for future employment. As well as learning new material, I also was able to refresh myself on information I had already known. In a large picture, I know now how to use systems such as R-studio and SPSS to find and conduct statistical data. With each of these new skills, I was also able to learn to calculate the different data by hand. As well, a few of these forms, for example t-tests, have multiple ways to calculate which resulted in learning various ways to calculate the data by hand.
Between R-Studio and SPSS, each system is vastly different from the other in how it is used. I learned how to do many different things in at least two different ways between R-studio and SPSS. I learned how to recode different forms of data, find mean, median, and mode, how to calculate range, interquartile range, variance, and standard deviation, how to find probability and z-score, finding confidence intervals, running t-tests, ANOVAs, chi-squared, correlation, and finally regression.
In a larger context this class relates to much of one’s daily life. While I have known about statistics from past courses, I never fully understood them until now. I also never realized how often statistics were used in an everyday context. On a simple and small level, when watching the daily news, statistics are often used. In understanding them it is easier to know who to trust and who gives accurate data to the public. As well, this information is incredibly important for future jobs. Especially today when many jobs are remote, there may be more of a need for those who know how to analyze data which can be incredibly helpful.
I also have learned a lot about myself throughout this course that was not necessarily taught to me. I have always been a person who disliked math and never liked numbers as much as I like people. However, in taking this course I have learned to see the other side of things and how I can use data in a way that is not boring because I now understand what it means. As well, I was able to do things that I would never have imagined a few months ago in regards to using the new systems and doing long winded math problems by hand. I learned that I am not one to shy away from something that may seem difficult at first glance. I was able to push a side of myself that does not get used or pushed often and while I still am more of a people person, I do see the positive sides of numbers and data that I did not see before.
While I currently do not think that I want to go into statistical analysis in the future, I think I have learned other skills that can be transferable to other jobs. Before this class I had never used a database like R-studio or SPSS, I was able to pick up what to do and how to use it fairly quickly seeing as we used both systems so often. Because of this, I know that if needed I will be able to pick up the use of other systems if a future job needs it.