Understanding Data and Statistics
In this section of the website we will explore data. First, how you can collect data and the consequences for how you collect this data. We will explore the description of your data. This usually involves what we call descriptive statistics and tells the reader the scope and boundaries of your data - what it can and can't tell you; how secure the data is; should you trust the data. Next we have the possibilities of how to present your data and finally we present, explain and have practice scenarios for the statistical tests.
An appreciation of data is interwoven throughout the ESS course assessment objectives and although these shouldn't drive all we do (that would be the aims), these do speak to the importance of being able to understand data. If we apply an Inquiry Cycle to how we approach ESS then data will underpin all the stages of the cycle. While you start to Engage with the issue or real-world context you will be surveying resources that include varying forms of data. You then start to Wonder and ask questions of this data and the perspectives that surround the data. The Investigation stage means that you will be designing a means to collect your own data to answer your question(s). This may simply be researching more about a topic, asking an AI tool to provide you with starting points for your investigation, or going out and collecting your own data. Creating means that you are engaging with the data to create a new perspective on the data or to confirm ones that already exist. Discussion is you thinking aloud about the data and what it means, its constraints and strengths and finally the Acting and Reflecting stage is exactly that, what are you going to do, now that you know what you know? What would you change about your inquiry and where will you go next?
Paper 1 is constructed around a Case Study. You are provided with a Resource Booklet and the Question Paper asks you to respond in the context of this Case Study and the data provided in the Resource Booklet. This data can take many forms including various forms of charts and graphs, tables of numbers, tables of viewpoints and diagrams that suggest relationships. The whole course will be helping prepare you to deal with this data, describing, presenting, interpreting and evaluating the data. It will also be important to understand how this data is collected and the potential strengths, weaknesses and biases in this process.
Paper 2 Section A are short-answer and data-based questions that require you to be able to interpret and evaluate this data.
Paper 2 Section B are longer essay style questions but each section of a question may ask you to show your understanding of the way that data is generated and evaluated in a real-world context.
The Internal Assessment is where you apply an Inquiry Cycle to your own investigation. It is all about data!
Collecting Your Data
In this section we will look at some fundamentals that need to be understood in order to collect and analyse data. This will include population vs sample, sample sizes, sampling techniques, types of data...
Describing Data
In this section we look at how you can describe data. This includes descriptive statistics such as measures of central tendency and measures of variability.Descriptive statistics aim to describe raw data...
Presenting Your Data
There is a many ways to present your data. Some of the options that are most useful for ESS students are explained in this section.
Statistical Tests
In this section we have a wide range of statistical tests that can be used to test your hypotheses. There is responsibility in collecting and presenting data and we need to be able to say if our findings...