Getting Started

Now, that I have chosen my research question and have my data, I will start analyzing the data. This week I was going to finish my data analysis toolbox. I was talking to my classmates and asked them which graphs I should use since I am comparing different samples or populations. If any one has any ideas, can you please comment? Also, I was working on my numerical summaries and I have some ideas what I want to do. My data section is completed:

o Who: People who took the ACT in Louisiana in the years between 2001 and 2007

• What: The scores made during the time period of 2001 to 2007

o Why: The data was gathered to answer the question, “Did Hurricane Katrina affect the ACT scores in Louisiana?” Many students in Louisiana take the ACT every year. Many factors, outside of educational level, can contribute to the scores of the ACT. Southern Louisiana has faced many natural disasters, like hurricanes, that can lower the scores of the test. The results can also show whether northern parishes/districts were affected by the storms even though they were not directly hit.

• When: The data was gathered in the years of 2001 to 2007
• Where: The data was gathered in the entire state of Louisiana

o Whom: Cinnamon Mitchell of the Advanced Placement Statistic Class at Patrick Taylor Academy by locating the data in the Louisiana Almanac 2008-2009 Edition, Editor: Miburn Calhoun and Assistant Editor: Bernie McGovern

If you see any mistakes, please comment me about them.

New Collection Topic

For the past couple of weeks, I have been deciding on the new topic for my statistic project. Last week, I found some interesting data in the Louisiana Almanac that was about the ACT. The book gave the results of the ACT by district from 2001 to 2007. My teacher gave me a good idea to do the project on: How has Hurricane Katrina affected the ACT scores? I would compare dates before 2005, the year of Katrina, and after Katrina. I cannot include 5005 because there were two or three ACT test before the storm and at least one after. It would be interesting to see if natural disasters cause more than mental and physical devastation to the citizens. Have the level of education decreased after a major named storm?

I will also be able to tell whether northern parishes/districts are able to better prepare their students for standardized test, in this case the ACT? Since only Southern parishes/ districts were truly affected by the storm, the scores could tell which region has the best scores. I would prove this by completing a two sample t-test where µ_a > µ₀ and see if it proved true or false. Some of the graphical displays that I will use are back to back stem plot, scatter plots, histograms, pie charts, and bar graphs.

There are many lurking variables with my topic. Many of the students that were living in Southern Louisiana relocated to northern parishes which can help them or lower them. Also, since not all the parishes felt the results of the hurricane, I would have to show the results by groups. Another problem is there are 66 different districts in Louisiana school system and there is too many for graphical displays and numerical summaries. The results would have to be averaged by region and then analyzed.

Random ACT Louisiana Facts

An interesting fact is St. Tammany Parish has made the highest ACT composite score for 2006 and 2007 with a score of 21.6 for both years. Also, it is higher than the Louisiana and National average scores for both years. The lowest parish score is East Feliciana with a 15.2 in 2007 and East Carroll with a 15.3 in 2006. Orleans Parish surprisingly only made the lowest 10 once in 2005 with a score of 17.0. The parish ranked 61 out of 66. I’m sure many may be interested in Jefferson Parish’s rank but the Almanac doesn’t give it. But in 2007, Jefferson Parish had a mean composite score of 18.6.

Data Collection

This week’s blog entry is about our data collections and where we stand in collecting it. As of right now, I am still trying to decide on my topic and research question. However, my data collection is done, because my teacher suggested that I use the Louisiana Almanac of 2008-2009 for the data. I would just have to analyze the data and give the results in various graphs and numerical summaries.

Even though I really want to do the project on Head Starts in Jefferson Parish because Governor Bobby Jindel wants to end it, I have to choose a different topic. As I was flipping through the almanac, I came across the average composite Louisiana ACT results by district from 2001 to 2007. This really sparked my interest. I also did a web search on google to find ideas about a research question. I found an article that talked about the results of the ACT in 2003. The article states that many of the high school students are not prepared for math and science when entering the basic college level of algebra and biology. Only a fourth made a 24 or higher on the Science section and forty percent made a 22 or higher on the Math section which is level that the students should be at when entering college, while two-thirds score an 18 or higher in the English portion. I think this is an important issue especially for Louisiana students since we are already at a disadvantage. I think I am leaning towards a question about the ACT scores in Louisiana.

An interesting fact is St. Tammany Parish has made the highest ACT composite score for 2006 and 2007 with a score of 21.6 for both years. Also, it is higher than the Louisiana and National average scores for both years. The lowest parish score is East Feliciana with a 15.2 in 2007 and East Carroll with a 15.3 in 2006. Orleans Parish surprisingly only made the lowest 10 once in 2005 with a score of 17.0. The parish ranked 61 out of 66. I’m sure many may be interested in Jefferson Parish’s rank but the Almanac doesn’t give it. But in 2007, Jefferson Parish had a mean composite score of 18.6.

Gettin' the Word Out

Many people try to become famous and for this project my teacher wants us to get the word out about them. So she wanted us to answer the questions: Who is this data going to be useful for? How are we going to get the word out? And why would our topic be interesting to others? I think the best way to get the word out is to call and email various newspapers and news stations that may be interested in my topic. I plan on getting in touch with the newspaper by calling them or summiting an article to them. The media should be interested in the topics that me and my classmates chose to do. I also think we should also help each other in getting the word out. For example, if I know a food critic for a newspaper, then I would give his contact information to Alex Any way we could help each other, then we should. since she is doing her project on restaurants.

The data is going to be useful to people that wants to know the answer to the question: How do the citizens of Jefferson Parish spend their free time? People spend plenty of their time watching television and playing video games instead of exercising or reading books. The amount of time spent watching television limits the time people spend exercising which can contribute to the obesity level. (Here is a website that speaks of the obesity rates in Louisiana http://www.dhh.louisiana.gov/offices/?ID=270). Nutritionist, dietitians, and people worried about their nutrition would be interesting to them. It would also be useful to parents to see how much time them and their children spend watching television that could be spent on other activities. Obesity is plaguing the nation, and there is things that could done to prevent it.

Toolbox (#2)

What are the changes that I made to the data analysis tool box and why?

In the class, this week my class and I edited our data analysis toolboxes based on our teacher comments and our previous toolbox. I noticed the level of the other toolbox and realized mine needed a lot of work.

The first thing that I changed about my data analysis toolbox is data part of the toolbox. The teacher suggested that I added more detail to this section of the toolbox. I added the names of all the Head Starts that I will be collecting data at. I had to delete the Grand Isle Head Start because there are transportation issues. I will have to call them instead of collecting the data myself. I made to changes to add clarity to this part of the toolbox. It really makes it easy for me know what question I am answering and why I am collecting the data.

One of the major parts that I changed in the data analysis toolbox is the graphs part. I added why each graphs was the best to use, what are they going to be used for, and some I added what they are. For example, “The box plot is used to show the spread of the data and the five number summaries. It would be easy to compare the centers’ performance by comparing the box plots. The box plot would show the minimum, maximum, median, first and third quartile. The box plot would also show the outliers that are in the sample.” This is an important addition to the toolbox because would help me with the comparison. Also, I know exactly why each graph is used.

The last thing I changed is the numerical summaries portion of the toolbox. One of the major additions is the two-sample hypothesis t-test. I added that because I need to compare the West bank and East bank. I also choose the t-test because I do not know the population standard deviation. I also added why the other numerical summaries would be used.

"HOT" Blogs

Friday, March 6, 2009

Everybody use blogs everyday to communicate about different topics. I like to use appealing color schemes and speaking in a language that is appropriate to the audience. I enjoyed reading Sobia’s entries because it was like we were having a conversation with one another. My teacher should be looking for when grading our blogs is a conversation like dialogue. We have to be able to relate to the audience and the best way is to use dialogue type writing. It is also important that they keep the audience in mind and use appropriate language to convey their message. Also, the teacher wants us to have pictures that are related to the blogs. I think she should rate the pictures based on the creativity and relevance to the blog entry. Also, we should be graded on using media other than pictures such as videos, screenshots or quotes. It would be awesome if someone created a sound bite and uploaded to their blog. Of course, the sound would have to be relevant to the topic. The teacher should also look for our use of examples. Maybe we could relate our blog entries to an example or experiment that we done before. It would help us with finding research and how to find a relationship between my information and someone else’s. We should find links to websites that relate to our topic or blog entry. The links could better clarify the point or the points we are trying to come across. I enjoy writing blogs not only for this class but for my personal use. It would help if we had guidance for the blog entries for this class. I hope my teacher receive inspiration from my and my classmates blog for our rubric for the blogs for this class.