Class Activities

Activity #1 (Group)

Have each group design a study where they survey a random selection of students at your college or university. Ask students to use the information presented in Chapter 6 to assist with developing the sampling frame and drawing the sample. Students can gather information on a topic of interest to the group, but some questions must capture interval-ratio level information (e.g., years of education and years expected to degree). After the data collection phase, enter the results into a spreadsheet (e.g., Excel, SPSS, and Google Sheets) to organize the data.

Activity #2 (Group or Individual)

Have students follow the steps outlined in Chapter 7 to calculate point and interval estimates for the interval-ratio level variables in their dataset from Class Activity #1. Ask students to find similar estimates for other colleges or universities. How does the student body at your college or university compare to other colleges or universities?

Activity #3 (Group or Individual)

Have students use a random number table or random number generator (e.g., www.random.org) to select five sub-samples of different sizes from the dataset from Class Activity #1. With each sub-sample, repeat the steps in Class Activity #2. Compare the results. Is there a pattern of a loss of precision as sample size decreases?

Activity #4 (Group)

Provide the class a dataset from an entire large population (e.g., data from your college or university). Create a worksheet where you have a table with columns labeled size, mean, and standard deviation. Randomly select a sample size of 5, 25, 50, 75, and 100 from the population and find the mean and standard deviation for these sample sizes. Then run the mean and standard deviation for the entire population. Have the students make observations about what happens as you increase the sample size and have them discuss what implications this has for statistics.