In the course of our discussion concerning our data to make our pie graphs, we learned some things about data and its comparability. This is important for us to remember as we critically look at various information of this kind into the future.
We compared our collected data in the following manner:
We looked at the mean (average... add up the data and divide by the number of trials).
We looked at the median (the middle of the scores).
We looked at the % difference between the highest and lowest scores (the outliers) and the median.
We then compared the means and medians by category (local, regional,provincial,national, worldwide). We agreed that our range from top to bottom score was between 2 and 5% and therefore not significant.
The class was then asked if the median was 22% for all categories and one category, say "worldwide connections", showed as 33%, would the 11% difference be significant? The vast majority agreed.
However upon further testing of this idea, we found that although 11% looks like a fair difference, based on our data and how it was collected, it is NOT a significant difference.
Here is why:
On the average, each group that made a pie graph identified 25 connections total. This total (25) then represents 100%. Therefore, each connection represents a 4% difference. As a result, a 11% difference in connections means a difference of 2.25 connections out of 25.
When examining data, it is important to consider how the data is put together and what the procedure is for collecting the data.
