Module 4 Reflection

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The fourth module presented a number of lessons that have been very instrumental in my academic growth. It has also presented a number of challenges that I am still doing my best to grasp them. I learnt several aspects on statistics including the measures of central tendency, SPSS software, and basic descriptive analysis techniques. I had an easy time recapping the mean, mode and median had. Several things outstood in the module including the significance of the statistical aspects such as the standard deviation that never made any sense to me initially. The understanding of how SPSS works was a revelation that brought many things about scientific research to light. The test was challenging but I managed to get 26 out of 30 in Module 4 Quiz. Some of the challenging aspects include understanding correlational statistics, understanding conceptual frameworks, and elucidating how to test for significance among others.

The introduction and overview on SPSS was very important in the understanding of the topic. I came to learn of the simplicity that is brought by the introduction of SPSS in the statistical analysis, for a long time researchers have continued to find simplistic ways of analyzing data; they have developed the program, which is in its 17th version. I cannot imagine a world without SPSS, I attempted to look through the methods of statistical testing and found that most of them such as ANOVA require lengthy calculations that can be discouraging to a researcher. It left me wondering, how the researchers of old times did it. In addition, I have learnt some aspects of the SPSS software through a trial version of the software I downloaded over the internet.

Understanding the significance of the standard deviation has been a challenge that I have attempted to overcome through extensive reading and practice. It is the distance that a given entry distances itself from the mean of the whole data. In addition, I got to differentiate between standard deviation and variance hence eliminating the confusion that I had between the two statistical components. The two concepts of standard deviation and variance make much sense in statistics and their understanding makes it possible to elucidate a number of statistical concepts.

Another area of difficult that still has some unclear components is the statistical tests. Key among these is the ANOVA test that is an analysis of variance. This parametric test that is used to test the difference between two groups is very significant in the study and practice of statistics but its calculations are sometimes lengthy and tedious. Another statistical test is the Pearson correlation that is used to test measurable variables only. Some confusion between the Pearson correlation and multiple regression analysis had emerged, but I learnt to distinguish the former from the latter by considering the number if variables involved, the former uses two variables while the latter can use three or more total variables. In addition, multiple regression analysis tests whether the independent variables can give a prediction of the results.

In conclusion, there are diverse aspects that were learnt about statistics and the simplicity that is brought by the SPSS software. Areas of concern that required more time to understand include the descriptive analysis techniques and some key statistical tests. However, judging from the results of the test, the topic well understood.