Analyzing Data Worksheets
Just about all organizations have realized the importance of assessing themselves and evaluating how to improve themselves. This is often done through using analytics to some extent. Analytics is when we systematically analyze a series of data to gain meaningful insights on something. Analyzing data is a very intricate process that has four different stages. It all begins the data collection process. At this stage it is critical that you minimize distractions or anything that may taint your data as it is coming in. Once we have all the data, we now must begin to create a model from it. This is normally done by visualizing it through the use of a graph or a chart. We then start to investigate these visualizations to see if we can spot any trends or correlations. When we investigate all the different quantitative aspects of an organization it is rare that we cannot easily identify some aspect that can offer a good deal of improvement. These worksheets will help students learn how to identify data sets that share portions of a data pool and make decisions based on how they relate and differ.
Aligned Standard: Grade 7 Statistics - 7.G.SP.B.3
- Height of Players Step-by-step Lesson- Is there a correlation between height and your sport of choice?
- Guided Lesson - This one was a real eye opener for students. Give them plenty of time.
- Guided Lesson Explanation - Calculating the mean average deviation and the individual deviation is a very abstract student for most kids. The vocabulary throws them off.
- Practice Worksheet - You will find some very interesting thoughts in this selection of word problems.
- Matching Worksheet - Great for an introduction to this skill set. Just two problems.
- Answer Keys - These are for all the unlocked materials above.
Homework Sheets
Start to find commonalities and differences within data sets.
- Homework 1 - Liam is a statistician. He wanted to compare the average height of some of the players on his favorite cricket and volleyball teams.
- Homework 2 - Eli wanted to compare the mean weight of boxes of his favorite toy cars and dolls. He thinks that there will be a greater variability in the weight of toy car boxes as compared to the doll boxes.
- Homework 3 - Jackson lives right off a high speed road. The speed limit on her road is 70 miles per hour. He wanted to compare the mean speed of the cars between day time and night time.
Practice Worksheets
Students start to see how numbers can affect your income or at least how you position yourself.
- Practice 1 - Harper ran food vendors stands at two different parks. Harper wanted to compare the mean amount of money between the two stands. Each stand has eight cash registers. He thinks that there will be a greater variability in the indoor park as compared to the outdoor park.
- Practice 2 - Owen and Ryan work for Emma. They buy car parts for Emma's teams to put together. Emma wanted to compare the mean amount of items purchased by Owen and Ryan over a week.
- Practice 3 - Olivia is a sales manager. She is deciding who to give a raise to. Olivia wanted to compare the mean expenses of Joy and Tom over 8 days.
Math Skill Quizzes
Due to time needed for the explanation, these quizzes have only a few questions each.
- Quiz 1 - Mack wanted to compare the mean weight of boxes of his shoes and clothes. He thinks that there will be a greater variability in the weight of shoes boxes as compared to clothes boxes.
- Quiz 2 - Brian wanted to compare the mean scores of Class 1 and Class 2.
- Quiz 3 - In which area does the average cash register have more money?
The Steps to Making Sense of Data
In this age of information, we are almost overwhelmed with the amount raw data that is available in any many circumstances. A recent study that investigated the data collected by most medium to large companies found that less than a half of a percent of the data that was regularly being collected by the organization was ever analyzed. The biggest problem is not being able to properly investigate the measures that are being collect, it is rather that executives are just not certain what the important metrics are to be tracked and breakdown. The people that are vital to the success of organizations tend to be accomplished at identifying the key metrics of their business.
There are several critical aspects to getting this right and improving your ability to make sense of a form of information that you may be collecting. It all starts with asking the right series of questions to yourself. Any question that you must quantifiable so that it may be clearly and consistently measured. When we ask these questions, they should be formed in a way that leads to a possible solution. The metrics that you collect should either help you lean towards or away from a proposed solution. When you choose what needs to be measured you must decide on concise methods and protocols for the collection process. This should include a time frame and units that will be collected. As note any outside factor which you cannot remove or dull that may affect the collection process.
We then begin to collect all the data. If you are using any type of survey or interview, make sure to use a template that does not change at all. If you introduce change or provide a different form of presentation, in any way, you run the risk of having invalid data. You want everything to be as organic as possible, so that runs true to life.
From here we begin to make sense of what we have collected. It normally starts with using a feature in Microsoft Excel that is called a pivot table. This simple feature can give deep insights into large streams of data. It almost instantly generated a summation of all the key statistical features of your data set. It allows you to make quick comparisons and helps you find trends and patterns in your data with ease. Depending on the industry your organization is in, there are tons of software solutions to help you make sense of all of the metrics that you have collected. In the end, you are looking to answer those initial questions that you have composed and determine a conclusion that best fits your situation to make a well thought out decision. The more experience that you get with the process the easier it will become.