Module 2: Graphing and Summarizing Distributions

Module 2 focuses on creating and interpreting graphs, and understanding distributions of data.

Learning Objectives

These are the learning objectives for this portion of the class:

  1. Create a frequency table
  2. Create and interpret bar charts
  3. Create and interpret basic stem and leaf displays
  4. Create a grouped frequency distribution
  5. Create a histogram based on a grouped frequency distribution
  6. Create and interpret cumulative frequency polygons
  7. Create and interpret overlaid frequency polygons
  8. Create a box plot
  9. Judge whether a bar chart or another graph such as a box plot would be more appropriate
  10. Create and interpret line graphs
  11. Create and interpret dot plots

These are the learning objectives for this portion of the class:

  1. Give three different ways the center of a distribution can be defined
  2. Describe how the balance is different for symmetric distributions than it is for asymmetric distributions.
  3. Compute mean, median, and mode
  4. State when the mean and median are the same
  5. Compute a trimmed mean
  6. Understand how the difference between the mean and median is affected by skew
  7. State how the measures differ in symmetric distributions
  8. State which measure(s) should be used to describe the center of a skewed distribution
  9. Determine the relative variability of two distributions
  10. Compute the range, inter-quartile range, and variance
  11. Estimate the variance from a sample

Consumables

Each week there will be a number of items for you to consume, be it reading, watching, listening, or a combination thereof.

Consumable materials for module grouped by required or supplemental content.
Module Required? Text/Resource Chapter/Title Estimated time in minutes Type
2 Required R for Data Science Welcome 30 Programming
2 Required R for Data Science Explore 60 Programming
2 Required Online Statistics Textbook Chapter 2: Graphing Distributions 120 Mathematics
2 Required Manga Guide to Statistics Pages 33-39, 40-47 20 Mathematics
2 Required Online Statistics Textbook Chapter 3: Summarizing Distributions 180 Mathematics
2 Supplemental Introductory Statistics Measuring Data 10 Mathematics
2 Supplemental Introductory Statistics Presenting Data 10 Mathematics
2 Supplemental How To Graph in Rstudio The Basics 11 Programming
2 Supplemental Perceptual Edge Designing Effective Tables and Graphs 3 Programming
2 Supplemental Perceputal Edge Examples 5 Programming

The total amount of time estimated on required texts and resources is 410 minutes, while you should expect to spend at most an additional 39 minutes on supplemental material.

The total amount of time estimated you should spend on these assignments depends on the amount of effort required, itself based on your previous experience with statistics, generally, and R, in particular. You can expect to spend somewhere between 95 and 285 minutes on this module beyond the readings. The estimated total number of words you’re likely to write in this module is 1,000.

Module 2 Activity

This module’s activity covers descriptives and charts.

Quiz

Don’t forget about your chapter quizzes! Find them in the Quizzes menu in D2L.