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Statistics in Action: The Evolution of a Service-Learning Project

Statistics in Action: The Evolution of a Service-Learning Project. 37 th Annual AMATYC Conference November 10, 2011. Presented by Mary DeHart Jim Ham. What is a service-learning project?.

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Statistics in Action: The Evolution of a Service-Learning Project

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  1. Statistics in Action: The Evolution of a Service-Learning Project 37th Annual AMATYC Conference November 10, 2011 Presented by Mary DeHart Jim Ham

  2. What is a service-learning project? A service-learning project is one in which students provide a service to their community while utilizing skills and knowledge that are relevant to their college courses.

  3. Our presentation will include: • A brief description of how the Pulse of Sussex County and Pulse of Midland County Service Learning Projects began, initial and current structure of the projects • Examples of published surveys • Step-by-step details of how the projects are conducted • A discussion of how the projects help students to learn and understand Statistics

  4. Began in 2003 Involves the cooperation of SCCC students, faculty, administration, and the New Jersey Herald Newspaper The Pulse of Sussex CountyService Learning Project

  5. Sussex County, NJ: Population 149,265Sussex County Community College Enrollment: 3,698

  6. The Pulse of Sussex County Project • Project Goals • Give a voice to county residents • Build stronger ties between the college and the community • Provide students with the opportunity to see statistics in action.

  7. The Project Begins • Meeting with The NJ Herald • Forming the Pulse of Sussex County Committee • Planning Survey Design • Deciding on the level of student involvement

  8. Role of Statistics Professor • Recruit and train students • Supervise collection of survey topics and questions • Distribute topics and questions to committee members • Help to supervise survey process

  9. Role of Students • Brainstorm survey topics • Formulate unbiased questions • Conduct surveys • Review the Pulse of Sussex County articles, reflect on the survey experience, offer suggestions for improvement

  10. Role of Pulse of Sussex County Committee • Review topics suggested by students • Select topics for surveys • Review and fine-tune unbiased questions

  11. Role of SCCC Department of Institutional Research • Prepare survey forms • Help to monitor survey process • Record and analyze data • Present report to the New Jersey Herald

  12. Challenges • Obtaining a random sample of Sussex County residents • Finding phones for students to use • Analyzing data in a timely fashion

  13. October 2003The First Two Surveys Topics • The NJ Bear Hunt • The War in Iraq 41 Students Participated 370 Surveys Completed

  14. Questions Have you ever seen a bear in Sussex County? Yes 91.0% No 9.0% The New Jersey Bear HuntPublished November 30, 2003

  15. Have you ever seen a destructive act by a bear? Yes 30.7% No 69.0% The New Jersey Bear HuntPublished November 30, 2003

  16. Questions Has the presence of bears in the county changed your behavior? Yes 37.4% No 61.2% The New Jersey Bear HuntPublished November 30, 2003

  17. Do you believe that there are too many bears in Sussex County? Yes 48.6% No 42.4% The New Jersey Bear HuntPublished November 30, 2003

  18. Should there be a bear hunt in New Jersey? Yes 43.6% No 44.4% The New Jersey Bear HuntPublished November 30, 2003

  19. First Iraq War Survey Published: 12/15/03Sadam Hussein Captured: 12/13/03

  20. OverdevelopmentPublished February 15, 2004

  21. Immigration Published August 8, 2004

  22. Upcoming Presidential ElectionPublished August 29, 2004

  23. Improvements • 25 new phone lines installed, 25 phones purchased so that calls can be made from one location • Phone number list purchased

  24. SportsPublished October 3, 2004

  25. Sports Survey: Graphs and Results of Follow-Up Interviews

  26. 2004 Presidential ElectionPublished November 14, 2004

  27. Cigarette SmokingPublished July 3, 2005

  28. Third Anniversary of the Start of the Iraq WarPublished March 19, 2006

  29. TattoosPublished April 27, 2007

  30. Quality of Life in Sussex CountyPublished March 16, 2008

  31. More Improvements • 25 additional phones purchased • Student Center Dining Room equipped with phone lines.

  32. 2008 Presidential ElectionPublished October 26, 2008

  33. Pulse of Sussex County ProjectionsCompared to Actual Election Results Election Results in Sussex County John McCain 59.5% Barack Obama 39.0%

  34. Trend Data from the Quality of Life Survey

  35. NJ Governor Chris Christie:Published December 13, 2010

  36. At what age should a child be allowed his/her first cell phone?

  37. Which of the following social networking accounts do you have? a.) Facebook Responses by Age

  38. Which of the following social networking accounts do you have? b.) Twitter

  39. Responses by Sex: Twitter Account

  40. To date: . More than 1000 SCCC students have participated in the project 51 surveys completed µ=7.9 surveys per student Largest sample size: 690 surveys

  41. Current Structure of Project • Typically 75-100 Statistics students work on the project each semester. • Students are awarded 100 points of credit for the project: 10 points for generating topics and formulating questions, 80 points for making phone calls, and 10 points for evaluating demographic perspectives on survey data.

  42. A Step-by-Step Look at the Survey Process • Statistics students brainstorm topics. • Professor submits list of topics to the NJ Herald and the SCCC Department of Institutional Research • NJ Herald Editor, Institutional Researcher, and Professor discuss and select 2 topics per survey session.

  43. Students formulate 5 or 6 unbiased questions per survey topic. • Editor, Institutional Researcher, and Professor review questions and edit if necessary. • Survey forms are prepared by the Department of Institutional Research

  44. Professor or Institutional Researcher present the survey to the students and provide a short training session. • Surveys are conducted on two consecutive evenings from 6:30–8:45 PM. • The Professor and the Institutional Researcher supervise the students. Each student is required to work one evening.

  45. Department of Institutional Research scans forms and compiles a report to send to the Professor and the NJ Herald. • NJ Herald publishes articles. • Working in groups, students offer their perspectives on the demographic analysis and provide suggestions for improvement.

  46. Benefits of the Project for Teaching and Learning • Students learn the challenges of collecting sample data • They have an experiential context in which to place statistical concepts such as • sampling techniques • design of surveys • formulation of unbiased questions • sample size • confidence intervals • margin of error • correlation and regression • etc.

  47. The 51 surveys that have been completed for the Pulse of Sussex County Project would not have been possible without the help of the following people: • Dr. Bradley Gottfried, former SCCC President • Bruce Tomlinson, Editor, New Jersey Herald • Rob Schmicker, former SCCC Institutional Researcher • Matthew Miller, SCCC Associate Director of Institutional Research • Brittany Kovach, SCCC Department of Institutional Research • Jo-Ann Harby, SCCC Department of Institutional Research All Pulse of Sussex CountyReports submitted to the New Jersey Herald were produced by the SCCC Department of Institutional Research.

  48. and now The Pulse of Midland County

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