Identifying And Interpreting Descriptive Statistics 5

Examine the survey results downloadable from the link below. Choose one of the items, determine the descriptive statistic that is reported, and indicate what it means. For example, “What is the highest level of education of this group?”

1. What is your initial level of education in nursing?

a. High school 54.7%

b. Associate’s degree 23.1%

c. Baccalaureate degree 21.9%

d. Graduate degree 0.1%

2. If you hold an associate’s or baccalaureate degree, what was your prior degree in?

a. Medical-related degree or certificate 63.1%

b. Teaching 16.2%

c. Accounting 0 .7%

d. Business administration 1.2%

e. Other 18.8%

3. Do you have a prior healthcare occupation in any of these fields?

a. LPN 19.1%

b. CAN 63.0%

c. EMT/paramedics 11 1%

d. Pharmacy technician 0.3%

e. Surgical technician 3.7%

f. Dental hygiene 2.9%

g. Other 0.2%

4. What is your age?

Average age is 41 years

20–24

4.1%

25–29

3.6%

30–34

13.2%

35–39

15.5%

40–44

17.6%

45–49

28.0%

50–64

21.4%

65 and over

0.2%

5. What is your gender?

Male 7.5% Female 92.3%

6. What is your racial or ethnic background?

a. Hispanic (of any race) 3.0%

b. American Indian or Alaska Native 0.5%

c. Asian 2.5%

d. Black or African-American 15.8%

e. Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander 0.2%

f. White 69.1%

g. Race or ethnicity unknown 8.6%

7. What is your family status?

a. Married 70.5%

b. Widowed, divorced, or separated 18.1%

c. Never married 9.2%

8. Do you have children?

a. No children 56.2%

b. One child 24.9%

c. Two children 11.5%

d. Three or more children 5.6%

9. What is the time zone where you live?

a. Eastern 34%

b. Central 29%

c. Mountain 19%

d. Pacific 18%

10. Do you own your residence?

a. Yes 61%

b. No 39%

11. Please indicate how prepared you felt to enter nursing school.

a. Extremely prepared 15%

b. Prepared 37%

c. Neither prepared or unprepared 28%

d. Prepared 15%

e. Extremely unprepared 5%

12. Why did you decide to pursue a baccalaureate degree in nursing?

Themes from respondents

· Desire to help others

· Lifelong dream

· Ability to advance

· Availability of jobs

· Earning potential

· Loss of previous job

Class Survey: Hypothetical Data Results. Wk 6.docx

revised 8/1/01 nlh

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument