explain this assignment in simple terms: This may be a bit of a weird one - but the goal of this week's discussion is to help you practice working with raw data and calculating standard deviation step by step. You won't have to do this often but I've found it's a really good way to solidify the concepts. So you will not only perform the calculation (and check the calculation of a classmate) but also engage (use your imagination) to create a realistic scenario within political science. Instructions: 1. Choose a range of data and 'go get a sample' Pick a functionally continuous data range ( ex 1 to 10, or -50 to 50 etc. ) this is your sample space. Try not to duplicate sample space with other students. search 'random number generator' this can be google or bing or random.org, and generate a reasonable number of observations (from lecture we might think about min of 20, but I'm ok with you doing 10). bonus if you specify which distribution you generated from and why (the why will be related to step 2). 2. Create a narrative describe your scenario Given the sample space you defined, come up with what these data points could represent - (for example in lecture I did 'resting heart rate' and in the textbook Field does 'number of friends' but make it relevant to your substantive political science interests. 3. Create a data table showing observations (col 1), mean (col 2), deviance (col 3), deviance squared (col4) and then finish the work by calculating unbiased variance and standard deviation. 4. Check somebody else's work - try to find someone whose work hasn't already been checked, but it's ok to double up if there isn't an unchecked solution available. You won't lose points for making a mistake, but you will for missing someone else's