The objectives of this assignment are to:

• Get you familiarized with the process of collecting and organizing data
• Using basic statistical concepts learned this week to define your data
• Using Excel to perform measures of central tendency and variation
• Using data for decision making

In this assignment you will collect data and demonstrate your knowledge of the terms and concepts learned this week. Please use the answer sheet that has been provided to you; enter your data, definitions, answer, and citations in the marked boxes. Name your file: (last name) A1.xlxs

Gather data

You will select the data you will use for this assignment. Use data that you would like to know more about and that is readily available to you.  

Collect 30 pieces of data and enter them in your answer sheet.

Some examples are:

a.Number of tracks in albums

b.Age of Friends (If you select this one, please make sure you have a valid decision to go with this; “I wanted to know the age of my friends” is not enough, after all they are YOUR friends and you already know them).

c.Duration of tracks (If you select this one, make sure you use only ONE unit; usually songs are measured in minutes and seconds – TWO units. This does not do well in Excel, so either change them to whole minutes or whole seconds)

d.Dollars spent (You can select expenses, or any other monetary transaction. If you would like to compare prices of an item, make sure it is a similar item in all retailers you use. For example, looking at the price of similarly equipped 2015 Toyotas Corolla in 30 different retailers)

e.Industry or work experience, salaries, etc.

f.Number of hits on a website

g.Budgets (You can use films, live productions, product manufacturing, etc.)

Some useful sources of data are:

a. iTunes

b.Amazon

c.Google analytics

d.Pandora

e.Linked-in

f.Facebook

g.EBay

h.Spotify

Population

You will name the population that your sample is coming from. For example, if you are going to ask a question from your FB friends then your population is “FB Friends”.

Variable

You will name the variable you are looking for in your population. There are numerous variables contained within a population. For example, within the population “FB Friends” we can look at: age, income, marital status, number of cars, number of children, weight, height, color of hair, education level, and many other ones.

Sample

You will define the sample you are using. Remember, the sample comes directly from the population, so this relationship should be clearly stated. For example, “30 randomly selected FB Friends” is clearly marked as coming from “FB Friends”

Type of Variable

You need to state the type of variable. Since you are going to calculate measures of center and variation, your variable must be numerical. However, you must state whether it is discrete or continuous.

Mean:

Use Excel to calculate the mean of your data. For help with this please check out “Stats and Graphs in Excel” which is located in the “Student Resources” tab under “Course Information” and which also is among the downloadable files that accompany this assignment. Make sure to round your mean to the nearest ten thousandth.

Median

Use Excel to calculate the median of your data. For help with this please check out “Stats and Graphs in Excel” which is located in the “Student Resources” tab under “Course Information” and which also is among the downloadable files that accompany this assignment. Make sure to round your median to the nearest tenth if necessary.

Mode

Use Excel to calculate the mode of your data. For help with this please check out “Stats and Graphs in Excel” which is located in the “Student Resources” tab under “Course Information” and which also is among the downloadable files that accompany this assignment. If you have more than one mode, make sure you mention all of them.

Range

Use Excel to calculate the range of your data. For help with this please check out “Stats and Graphs in Excel” which is located in the “Student Resources” tab under “Course Information” and which also is among the downloadable files that accompany this assignment. 

Standard Deviation

Use Excel to calculate the standard deviation of your data. For help with this please check out “Stats and Graphs in Excel” which is located in the “Student Resources” tab under “Course Information” and which also is among the downloadable files that accompany this assignment. Make sure to round your standard deviation to the nearest ten thousandth.

Answer the following questions:

                                                            1. What kind of decisions can you make with this data?

                                                            2. Who would use this data to make decisions?

Please make sure that your answer is based on the data itself and that it is directly related to the population. Minimum required length for your answer is 5 complete sentences.