RES/710: Statistical Research Methods And Design I Wk 1 Discussion 2: What Do These Statistics Tell Us?

I need help responding to at least one classmate in a post of two hundred words or more. Focus on creating a genuine conversation by responding directly to what my peer shared. Add insight, pose a thoughtful question, or share a relevant example that builds on the main discussion topic. Keeping the reply centered on the core concept, and when relevant, connect it to course ideas or peer-reviewed research.

Classmate: Susan Blunt

Hello Class and Dr. Covert,

Math is an area in which I am working to enhance my competence. Therefore, the mean or (average) gave me a better understanding of the data set. Harbison and Simmons (2024) states "one advantage of using the mean is that it takes account all the points in a set." Having experience as a supervisor in a call center allows me to interpret associate's average calls per hour, customer hold times, and average number of calls per day.

Unfortunately, I could not receive any results from the mode function. I received an error message as it relates to "a value was not available to the formula or function. According to (Harbison & Simmons, 2024) the mode is the value that appears most frequently in the data set. Reviewing the test scores in the data set there were not any duplicates which could be the reason for receiving the error message.

Building on these insights, if I were explaining the results of the data set to someone who had never taken a statistics course I would begin by stating the process of statistics is to collect, organize, and analyze data to make an informed decision. As mentioned, in an organization where an associate can receive disciplinary action for not meeting a goal, I would also explain statistics is a way of using numbers to describe their work habits and encourage them on how they can meet each benchmark or overall score. Hayes (2025) explains that the most simple or arithmetic mean is the average calculated by summing up the values of some observations and dividing by the number of observations.