Data Analysis Workshop

Catalog description

This course is designed to increase conceptual understanding of basic statistics and proficiency with analytic techniques. EDPSY 502 Data Analysis Workshop (3) This course is designed for students with a desire to increase their conceptual understanding of basic statistics and their proficiency with analytic techniques using educational data sets. Through this course students will increase their knowledge of research methods and analytic strategies. An emphasis is placed on the connections among research design, research questions, analysis strategy, and interpretation of findings to supplement their statistics coursework. The course will be held in a computer lab so students can access a statistical analysis package. This course draws on students' knowledge and skills from research methods and statistics courses. In this elective workshop-style class, students are provided a conceptual review of quantitative statistical analysis. In each session hands-on activities and practice with provided educational data sets allow students to learn techniques and interpretation of conducted analysis. Through this course students become more comfortable with analyzing quantitative data sets. The data sets used in the course include segments of large scale educational data sets as well as smaller data sets that include relevant variables for education or educational psychology. These data sets are either portions of actual sets, or fictitious sets with variables labeled with relevant constructs. There are no general data sets included in the course. Each session starts with a teacher-directed review, followed by a model analysis, and guided practice. Students then practice analyzing and interpreting with provided example data sets. Students exit the course with a set of models to reference in their future work.