This is the life :)

Here are the definitions of the graphs that I will be using for my interpretation of the data: A histogram is “often used in exploratory data analysis to illustrate the major features of the distribution of the data in a convenient form. It divides up the range of possible values in a data set into classes or groups.” It is almost like a bar graph, but instead of categorical data, a histogram displays the frequency of numerical data. The graph on the left is an example of a histogram that I made in my Statistics class earlier this year for a Pi Day Project. We had to determine if the digits of pi could be used as a random number generator. We came to the conclusion that it can indeed be used because the probability of each number occurring is very close to .1 or 10%. For more information about this, you can visit my teacher, Mrs. Blanchet's blog. A box-plot, also known as a box and whisker plot, is a “type of graph which is used to show the shape of the distribution, its central value, and variability. The picture produced consists of the most extreme values in the data set (maximum and minimum values), the lower and upper quartiles, and the median. An ogive is similar to a histogram, but instead of displaying individual frequencies, it displays the cumulative frequencies. And a stem plot is “similar to a histogram but is usually a more informative display for relatively small data sets… It provides a table as well as a picture of the data and from it we can readily write down the data in order of magnitude, which is useful for many statistical procedures… By using a back-to-back stem plot, we are able to compare the same characteristic in two different groups.” I got all of these definitions (except for ogive) from this website.

I am really excited. I called the schools that I was interested in and I was able to get in touch with two of the schools. This means that I can finally start looking at actual data and start analyzing it with histograms, box-plots, ogives, and even a back-to-back stem plot. Here is a fantastic link that explains what each of these statistical terms means. Also within this link, there are many other statistical terms that you may not know the definition of. This link was very useful for me because it explains the term in depth and for the terms that I knew but forgot, this was a review. Back to gathering the data; well, I was able to get in touch with two of the schools via phone, but one school I had to email. I told each of the schools to give me back to data by mail by Friday (tomorrow). This means that they if they postmark the one-question survey that I have asked them to give to the students by tomorrow, I should have my data by Monday. I asked them to send it to my school because it will be easier for me to get my data rather than it being delivered to my house and then me having to bring it to school. I am really glad to know that my project is on its way and it is finally getting somewhere. I am planning on calling other schools that I was not able to get in touch with tomorrow during class. One of the reasons that some schools did not answer was because they were conducting standardized testing and could not be disturbed. Hopefully when I call them during my Statistics class, they will be able to talk with me and I can tell them all about my wonderful project! :)