Adrianna Kallas

Math 1040
Term Project Reflection
As a result of this project, I have learned basic statistics concepts. Prior to taking this
class, I was only aware of the most basic elements such as mean, median, and mode. I now know
that there are so many aspects that go into analyzing data. Firstly, there are different types of data
including categorical and quantitative. From there, there are many aspects you need to look at
such as the method of how the data was collected. If it was not a simple random sample, there is
your first red flag that the data is not reliable to be a reflection of a population. There are
multiple distributions for the data and multiple ways to dissect and analyze the data such as the
standard deviation and the five number summary.
What I have learned in my statistics class was easily applicable to many other classes I
was simultaneously taking. In psychology classes, you look at a lot of research. The experiments
in the empirical research I have read have breakdowns of the experiment, the elements present,
the methods used, and the outcome. The outcomes involve large amounts of statistical analyses
that were previously hard to interpret. It is nearly impossible to decipher what is being presented
when a lot of different symbols and percentages are being used and you are unaware of how to
translate them. This transferred over to not just my psychology classes, but my social science
class as well. Being a class on marriage and family relationships, many percentages from studies
were presented.
I find myself applying what I have learned about statistics in everyday life. If I overhear a
supposed study on the radio or see a commercial that involves results of some kind, my initial
reaction now is to ask where the study came from, who did the study, where they got the
participants, how large their sample size was, and many other questions. People will take
advantage of the ignorance of others in order to sell their product. I feel much more comfortable

Adrianna Kallas
Math 1040
Term Project Reflection
now that I am informed and can make educated decisions to avoid falling victim to these highly
common schemes.