This unit develops students’ understanding of a range of statistical methods along with their assumptions and limitations of their application. It enables students to develop the capacity to carry out independent statistical analysis of data using a standard statistical software package and also aims to develop students’ abilities in effectively communicating the outcomes of statistical investigations. In addition, it will provide a foundation and motivation for exposure to statistical ideas subsequent to the Graduate Certificate (GC) course.
- Effectively display information in datasets graphically
- Select an appropriate descriptive or inferential statistical technique based on the researcher’s hypothesis, the level of measurement of the variables and testing of the appropriate assumptions to analyse the data
- Select appropriate IBM SPSS Statistics procedures, Java applets on the web and mathematical calculations, to obtain basic statistical test results, including confidence intervals and effect size statistics
- Explain the foundations of statistical inference, in particular the role of sampling distributions and the use of the normal distribution as a density curve
- Recognize when more advanced techniques are needed
- Write interpretive summary reports for both descriptive and inferential statistical analysis
