All posts by cottonoi19

Reflective Paper

I have to say after reading over the syllabus the first couple days of class I really did not think I was going to like this class. For starters, I remember thinking why is VMI requiring International Studies students to take a computer technical analysis class? Then when we got to class and Colonel Sanborn showed us SPSS Statistics and told us this was the program we are going to working with this semester; I was highly discouraged. SPSS Statistics looked like a fancy Excel and the thought of doing statistics again was highly unappealing. Turns out that SPSS statistics was a very easy program to work with and it made statistics entertaining and applicable to life.

Because at first I was not confident using SPSS statistics and I thought it was going to be very complicated, for the very first chapter I not only read the Pollock book, but I watched the videos that they post on the website. I think trying to watch the videos while going through the chapter was actually more challenging because I was not moving at the same speed as the video since I was reading as I went through the chapter. The first time the training wheels came off was in chapter 2 when I completed the interactive reading without the video. The information was a little bit more complicated then the information in the first chapter, but in general with all the diagrams and step-by-step instructions it was super easy. I remember I was presently surprised when I was able to complete the worksheet without going back through the chapter and looking at how to do each problem. This was a big deal for me because I have a poor memory when it comes to remembering how to do technological things. It was at this moment I knew I was actually going to learn how to work with statistics this semester.

One thing that was very frustrating or annoying this semester was the glitches in either SPSS or my computer. When I was doing the Chapter on transforming data my SPSS statistics shut down and none of the work that I had done saved. Unfortunately for me, the work done in this chapter actually needed to be saved so that it could be used in the future, which meant that I had to start all the way back from the beginning. Another technological issue was on a couple of the worksheets on Canvas, Canvas had a problem with the format of the worksheets and it was not functioning properly. This was pretty annoying because it did not let me enter in values to the charts, which was some lost points. Luckily, SPSS statistics only randomly shut down a couple times throughout this semester, but this was the only chapter that I had to go back to the beginning and restart from the beginning, so it was a small annoying thing in the grand scheme of things.

SPSS statistics became pretty interesting during Chapter 4 of Pollock when we started comparing data. It was during this chapter that I realized how applicable statistics can be for figuring things out in life. It can help answer even the smallest of questions. Manipulating and interpreting data definitely takes more thought and was more time consuming, but the results from studies are for more interesting then just playing with numbers. I realized when you put the P-value and T-test into context it is far easier to remember their significance and when/how to use them.

One of the greatest challenges in this class was when the training wheels truly came off and throughout the worksheets you had to determine which kind of tests to use to analyze the data. The book would drop hints like this is the independent variable and this is the dependent variable, but it did not tell you where to put them when you were trying to run an analysis, so that was another element you had to figure out. This was like the final step before being able to create my own tests and run analysis to test my own hypothesis or theory. Finishing Pollock and all of the chapters in the book was a good feeling because I had gained so much knowledge about statistics. I felt pretty confidant going into our group projects that I would be able to handle our data.

Analyzing the data for our group project went very well. Our group had 170 data sets to work with so we had a pretty large data set, but I think as a group we transformed the data pretty quickly and figured out how to manipulate it fairly easily. It was very helpful that COL Sanborn helped us to start the process of analyzing and pointed us in the right direction for our data analysis. After we met with him, running all the tests for the analysis we wanted was pretty easy and it was very interesting. Now I know in the future, if I ever have a project that involves data and statistics I will know exactly what to do and I won’t be nervous. I have to say I was very skeptical of this class, but this probably one of the more useful and applicable classes I have taken in college.

Data Collection Phase Complete

170 data entries. I was pleasantly surprised how many responses to our survey we got. To be perfectly honest I was expecting like 30 people  to respond to the survey, but we hit that number out of the ball park. It was kind of cool because I had a couple of people come up to me and let me know that they took my survey because they thought what our group was trying to analyze was interesting.

So the first step was collecting all the data, which was a lot easier then expected, it only took two days to collect the data. After we got all that data it hit me that we now were going to translate 170 data points to values we can actually work with and then actually work with them to analyze the data. The nice thing is that we figured out is that google forms puts all the data into a google spreadsheet for you, and then we could all work on the google spreadsheet document together. From there we were able to copy and past the  spreadsheet into Excel, which we then could open up in SPSS statistics. It was quite a process trying to figure out how we can all work on the data so not only person is translating all the data.

I have to say that working with the data and using SPSS statistics was a lot easier than I had imagined. Also, it was pretty cool that for  the most part I remembered how do manipulate the data like we did in class. For our project we compared the means and used an independent sample T-test in order to compare the different classes and  try and find statistical significance between the different means. Never in a million years did I think I would  be creating my own study, using statistic to manipulate data and try and find a correlation between two subjects. All in all, our project is going well and is pretty entertaining to look at.

Ooopsies!

Our  group started the data collection phase today, which involved sending the e-mail out to the corp. Unfortunately, we made mistakes when we sent the link out. So not only did I not set the survey settings so that people have to request access to do the survey, but we also sent out a link to a weird format of the survey. It is frustrating because we lost participants due to the error. Also, we sent the link to the S2 captain to be sent out again, but it has not been re-sent yet, so we will see.

I have a feeling we are not going to get a enough responses and will have to manually collect our answers, by going room to room. I really hope that we will not though that would be a lot more time consuming.

Also, side note. Google Form has a feature that takes your data and puts it into a spread sheet for you, which is nice.

 

Whhheewww!!

At last our group has been approved for for collecting data! Getting the IRB approval was quite a process. The most frustrating thing about today was that after we did all of that work and got approval, we then found out that we would not be able to use SurveyMonkey without paying $30. It would have been nice if it had notified us when we made all of the questions that creating more than 10 questions is a premium feature.

Major things that we had to change was adding a consent form, which was pretty easy since I just used the template that was given to us. making sure that we are not trying to prove that cadets are commissioning because they have conservative values. When collecting data we are using the rat class as a control variable. Because they are all non-commissioned and either seeking or not seeking we can see that commissioning does not make cadets more conservative. Also we adjusted our data collecting methods to a scale instead of labeling students as Conservative or Liberal basically.

I am very frustrated with a couple of my group members for not pulling their weight in this project. And we will see how the data collection goes!

Beginning the IRB

So, I am a little late for this post, but better late than never right?

Upon first hearing about getting the IRB approval in order to start collecting data for our project, I thought wow this is going to be a very long and difficult process. Especially since Professor Sanborn said in class that he has to go through this same process in order to get his research approved, I couldn’t help but think oh jeez this  is going to be a horrible process. But once I actually looked at the IRB application form I couldn’t help but think, it cant be this easy. Surprisingly, filling out the form was not that bad.

We received comments after turning in our first draft and there was a few slight changes that needed to be made along wit actually making our survey that needed to be handed out, but otherwise we didn’t do too bad!

One thing I am second guessing is our research design. I am really questioning how many people are going to participate in the survey. Also, is there going to be a good distribution across the different classes. Ideally we would need 30 cadets in each class to respond, which is 120 participants, which seems like a lot. I guess we will have to see.

LLLLAAAASSSTTT WWWEEEEKKKK!!!!!

My suggestion for Pollock I though about this wee is to try and get the diagrams and words to align on the same page a little bit  better. There are times the diagrams are like a whole page or two behind. This week SPSS Statistics went very smoothly I have no complaints. I flew through the reading and the questions on correlation and linear regression, no problem. It is weird to think that we are done with Pollock and pretty much covered his whole book so quickly. I honestly would not mind having worked on SPSS statistics all semester long and not doing a group project, but I guess now comes the time for us to apply what we have learned so far this semester. I like our topic for our group project, but I can’t say I am excited about having the project. Just with IS capstone, a long research paper for Spanish, and the writing assignments I have coming up for US history, I am just feeling a little weighted down.

As far as Thyne, it felt pointless doing the reading because I retained very little of it. He includes a lot  of complex information in a very small space, with in my opinion poor explanation. I did not understand from his diagrams, or for the reading how it is he calculated the discordant and concordant pairs. Also, considering what we were doing on SPSS statistics I get that Thyne is like the background information on what is being calculated for us on SPSS statistics, but it seems like extra for our purposes of the class. Like I don’t remember any of the formulas like tau-c, because I never actually needed it to calculate anything, so it was irrelevant and just extra information.

Pits and Peaks

So this week there were some definite Peaks and pitfalls for both SPSS Statistics and Thyne. I would like  to start with the peaks:

As I mentioned last week, I took AP statistics in high school, so I actually remember doing chi-square and measures of association. Obviously we didn’t do them using SPSS Statistics, so I think that this probably  made this chapter a lot  easier. In class when it was said this chapter was going to be very hard, but I was presently surprised that it wasn’t that bad. Also, I remember having to interpret the data then, so it was something that I had already done before. Pollock still does a very good job teaching the information so it is very easy to understand. Also, I realized in chapter 9 how cheesy Thyne  can be when he was going over the cross tabs he said, “Focus on one row at a time! Or, #onerowatatime. Or, ‘team one row’. Or whatever you kids are into nowadays.” (Thyne, 155) It had me laughing well I was reading.

Now for the pitfalls! Just like last week, I was annoyed with all the reading in Pollock and the lack of  charts, but I think the interpretation takes more explaining. Well doing the worksheet either canvas, or my computer was glitching and it would not let me click on the Sommer’d column of the chart, so I missed that whole row of answers. I was presently not surprised to find out at the end of question 1 that I could not find out what answers I got wrong and I only had one more attempt. Seemed like a wild goose chase, of like guess which one you got wrong. Lastly, I know that Thyne has a lot of good information, but it is so statistic and formula oriented he just looses me. If I had to calculate these things by hand than I think I would pay a lot more attention, but we are using a program that does it for you so it loses me. It does fill in some good information that you miss in Pollock sometimes though.

Unhappy Camper

This weeks information really brought me back to high school when I took AP statistics. I remember going over t-stats, P-values, and looking at the 95% range with the highs and lows. Considering we had to remember formulas, calculate everything by hand, and use those long extensive charts, this way is 100% the better way to deal with statistics. Because I had seen this information before it was not that the chapter and worksheet were super difficult, but there were a couple things that were annoying. For starters, the fact that it switched over from data sets A to B with nothing more than just a little note at the bottom of the first page was peculiar. I started with the wrong data set, but luckily Professor Sanborn mentioned in class that there was that switch. The next annoying thing about this chapter was there was so much more reading then usual so it took a lot longer to get through the chapter. Also, I find the diagrams are a lot easier to follow then the text, they are a nice reassurance that you are doing things right. Lastly, The last question on the worksheet was pretty annoying because it took me while to figure out what I was using to analyze the data, then I was so concerned with figuring out Wisdom 1 that I completely forgot to enter the information in for wisdom 2, so I then had to go and re-enter all the information in the worksheet again so I could finish the whole chart for wisdom 2. Anyways, the chapter information wasn’t hard, but I was just really annoyed with the chapter anyways.

Pollock vs. Thyne

Earlier I wrote a blog about how I really liked Pollock’s book, because the directions were step-by-step, they were super easy  to follow, there were lots of pictures, and even videos to watch if you get really  lost. This still hold true. I do not mind going through the chapters and learning what Pollock has to teach because it is interactive and I am learning a lot. Basically, the opportunity cost pans out and so although no one truly likes school work it is one of more favorite assignments to do this semester.

On the other hand though, you have the Thyne book. I understand that the book is not as instructive and has more conceptual things in it, but it  sucks in comparison. The chapters are short and they do nicely outline/bold what the key concepts are, so that part is nice. What I don’t like  is  Thyne treats the information like word vomit he  goes a lot of complex information, very quickly, and with little detail and just say this is important to know. I found this to be especially  true with the Chapter 11 reading. He stated, “Understanding rival factors is absolutely critical to understanding how we go about testing hypotheses in political science.” I can’t say for something so critical that I understand it well after this chapter. Also, he  mentions how important it is to tell the truth and  the whole truth and manipulation and everything else, but then is like you didn’t get the whole truth from this chapter. I know I don’t want to read super long chapters, but at the same time after reading I do not have a   good grasp on chapter 11 concepts.

Actually Interesting

I think that this week the homework for chapter 4 “Making Comparisons” took a little bit longer because it required a little bit more thinking then past chapters. Even though obviously I don’t want my homework to take longer I have to say it was more interesting. I can see the how SPSS Statistics is a helpful application in manipulating and interpreting data. Also, it was a good intro for me on how to really use data in order to help with  a study or hypothesis. also, I am wondering if this is an application that I can somehow use to help me with my project for the capstone class because that would be super helpful.

Side note: I think that SPSS Statistics might be easier to use  then EXCEL. I think that things are labeled better and easier to understand. I guess it could also be easier for me to use because I have a  book with step-by-step instructions though.