Reflection
I still remember the first day when I zoomed in to Dr. Pedersons class for Sociology 345. I remember being a little intimidated at first by all the information she was explaining. She explained that the course was going to involve a lot of time outside of class studying and learning different statistical material. Sociology 345 did not have as much statistical work as I thought it would. The coding and variable work came this past semester with sociology 346. At the beginning of Socl 346, Dr. Pederson informed us that we would be working on a specific statistics manual that would assist us in the upcoming assignments, including our exams. To create this manual, Dr. Pederson introduced the entire class to RStudio and SPSS in order to create the manuals. Rstudio and SPSS are both specific software’s created to calculate and code different variables. Throughout the course the class was introduced to a new statical concept every week. Each week the class would learn how to perform the calculations by hand, and then we would be taught how to implement the data into both RStudio and SPSS.
I have to say that I was a little overwhelmed at first when Dr. Pederson taught us how to work RStudio. I always found RStudio to be more difficult to operate than SPSS. I always found the process of having to recode variables and run specific formulas before others was a little confusing. The SPSS software was much easier considering the steps to achieve the calculations were the same most of the time. I would never say that the material was difficult to calculate, I just had trouble understanding how some variables could be coded differently than others. Throughout the course we learned about different variable types. Ordinal, nominal and interval ratio. We had to pay attention when we implemented data into RStudio and SPSS because when calculation a Pearson’s calculation for example, you must have two interval ratio variables to properly run the calculation. Dr. Pederson made sure that we always knew what variable type to include in our formulas for RStudio. I also learned how to conduct z scores and understand the probability of my variables. Dr. Pederson showed us how to conduct z scores by hand and in RStudio and SPSS.
Towards the end of the course, I started to really think about the importance of learning this statistics information. I have a greater deal of respect for those who calculate the things I have for a living. It’s very important to understand and be able to interpret how this type of data works. Now that I have a manual that assists me with how each step works, I will always have the knowledge that I gained from this course. As my college career has come to an end, I have been thinking a lot about what my career plans are. When I first thought about my profession, I never thought that statistics would have anything to do with it. But if there is one thing that this course and Dr. Pederson has taught me, it’s that statistics are everywhere in life. You can’t go through a day in your life without doing something that involves statistics.
Towards the end of this spring semester, Dr. Pederson had two former students zoom with our entire class talking about their work life now. Both speakers were very informative with how the information from their statistics course plays a massive role in their work life today. I really enjoyed the class because one of the speakers had a very relaxed personality just like myself. He was very informative on what type of jobs are good to look for now that I have gained this statical knowledge. Not only did he give job information, but he also gave advice on how certain employers look for specific information on resumes. I really loved how he was very relaxed and was able to connect to students since he was in our shoes not too long ago. It just goes to show that you never know what type of job you will get one day, especially if that job requires you do understand certain statistical concepts.
Now that I have gained this information, I plan on keeping my manual to make sure I always have a decent understanding on how these concepts work. Not only the concepts, but how the software is properly run to conduct the calculations. My career path can always change, and I will never know if my job will require me to understand these concepts. My knowledge from this course has expanded as well as my respect for statistics in general.