Integrating Data Analysis At Berea College

Jill BoumaBerea College

August 13, 2010

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o Small, liberal arts college, 3-person departmento Part of NSF Integrating Data Analysis project in 2002

ADVANTAGES at Berea for adding data analysis:o Small class sizes – 10-25o students have own laptops

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DISADVANTAGES:o no TAso heavy teaching loads

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Unusual Schoolo only low-income students – all full-scholarship, all worko often come with poor prep and math skills

Until 2002, very little data analysis in courses

Saw adding modules as way too improve quantitative skillso enhance research skills

◦ Students don’t find own data

◦ But, if set up properly, can include all components of research project: pose question review lit propose hypothesis analyze data – test IVs on DV interpret tables and relationships between

variables make conclusion

Used in Social Problems class, 100-level courseo 20 students in classo Takes four 50-minute class days

GOALS:o Learn about race and gender inequality in

incomeo Use census data to make national and state

comparisons in terms of earnings

module available online at: http://serc.carleton.edu/sp/ssdan/examples/31584.html

o Create and read frequency tableso Learn logic of independent and dependent

variableso Create and interpret bivariate tableso “tell a story” about income inequality using data

as evidenceo Gain confidence using numbers

Example: Reading Frequencies:

2000 Full time, year round civilian workers in Kentucky, CPS<15K 15-25k 25-35K 35-50K 50-75K 75K+ 17.3% 24.9% 22.6% 16.7% 10.0% 8.6% Example: Reading tables:Gender differences in Income, KY 2000 (Census)Income Male Female Total <15K 12.1% 24.4% 17.3%15-25k 19.7% 32.0% 24.9%25-35K 21.5% 24.1% 22.6%35-50K 19.7% 12.6% 16.7%50-75K 14.4% 3.8% 10.0%75K+ 12.5% 3.2% 8.6%All 789,674 572,908 N = 1,362,582

o Learn independent and dependent variables

o Make hypotheses about relationship between variables

o Learn how to use SSDAN datasets to run frequencies and set up simple bivariate tables

o Learn how to create properly labeled tables from the data generated

o Students work in pairs on state of own choosing

o 5-minute presentation of findings to class:oHypothesis (and let others guess)oTable of resultsoDescribe findings with proper language

o Students come to class with completed draft of data analysis paper

o In pairs, review and edit one another’s papers, following guided prompts

o Main goal: students learn to write “story” using data as evidence

Formal Paper Assignment:

o Write formal paper examining earnings for US, KY, and state of own choosing

o Compare earnings by gender and race

o KEY was “telling a story” with numbers

o Assessment: C or above indicated competenceoall but one earned at least C (after rewrites) o large majority earned As and Bs

Pre/post Test (MC, T/F, and short answer questions)oPre-test average: 59 (first day of class)oPost-test average: 94 (part of final exam)

o Improved on all questionsoReported higher confidence levelsoCould transfer skills to same type of table

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Context Statement:

With paper, asked to describe:o what learnedo what enjoyedo what found most difficulto how affected own sense of confidence with

numbers

Final:On final exam asked for advice for teaching

this next year

o How to read information from chartso How to analyze and interpret datao How to use data for supporting/disproving

theorieso How to make sense of statistics and

numberso How to tell story about numbers.

oFun to compare statesoInteresting dataoGaining experience with numbersoTelling a story with dataoLearned something newoGained a new source of poweroEnjoyed math and understanding information

• Making sense of numbers (the most common)• Verbalizing a story• Finishing the paper• unusual task, not like other papers• Needed more time• lot of information to pull together• Working with tabs (computer/formatting issues)

“The more I tried to put it together, the more questions I had.”

“I found this to be the most difficult paper I have ever written…” (Student who made an A)

More practiceMore examplesKeep pushing Keep encouraging

“ I love the fact that we did this! I didn’t understand or enjoy it at first, but after practicing with it, I found that it was much easier than it seems. My advice would be to start more slowly with it. It seemed like we just jumped into it and it was very intimidating.”

 “ Going over it repeatedly was the most

beneficial for me. The first few times we went over it I did not understand it at all, but with time, and you going over and explaining it multiple times, I began to understand. The __ % of __ earned __ equation helped.”

• “I worked a lot in this class, and was always taken to the brink of overwhelmed but not crossing over. I think this is a sign of an excellent class. The data analysis we did was a particular challenge. I came away from the exercise knowing I learned something completely out of my comfort zone.”

• “Keep on trying with the Data Analysis.... we (students) need it... no matter how badly we do not like it at first.”

o Challenging but rewardingo Takes a lot of prep work first timeo Need lots of repetition and feedbacko Needs lots of cheerleadingo Could always use more timeo After one try, convinced worthwhile