Using Real Estate Websites to Learn Measures of Central Tendency

Abstract

This assignment, which requires students to use real-world data on home prices to generate and analyze measures of central tendency, can be adapted as an in-class assignment or homework assignment for undergraduate research methods or social statistics courses. Unlike many assignments on this subject, which use GSS or Census data, this assignment requires...

Download this resource to see full details. Download this resource to see full details.

Details

Subject Area(s):

Statistics

Class Level(s):

Any Level

Class Size(s):

Medium

Learning Goals and Assessments

Learning Goal(s):

1. Demonstrate understanding of how to calculate and interpret measures of central tendency; analyzes utility of various measures of central tendency on the basis of level of measurement and research question.
2. Use measures of central tendency to reach conclusions about the shape of a distribution.
3. Practice entering data into SPSS and using that data to generate basic statistics and figures

Goal Assessment(s):

1. Collects data on home prices from real estate website, uses data to calculate and interpret mean, median, and mode. Identifies which measure is best for describing the "typical" home price. Answers provided on written assignment and discussed as a group.
2. Draws shape of distribution (on written assignment and on board) given the values of the calculated mean and median. Identifies outliers.
3. Creates SPSS data file containing a scale variable for home price. Uses Frequency commands to generate mean, median, and mode. Compares to values produced by hand. Generates histogram and compares to estimated shape of distribution.