Reflection

While participating in the Skittles assignment I remember in the beginning while making

the charts and graphs that I was really surprised to see how the calculations and things that we

were learning worked in real-time. I found this particular project to be an excellent

demonstration of how sample sizes can affect the results of a study, and it was interesting to

compare my person data alongside the data from the rest of the class.

I’m a huge baseball fan and I’ve always found the amount of statistics available very

impressive. After learning how to do the different types of calculations to find the specific

information you are looking for, I have even more of an appreciation for the process. The

statistics that they have can play an important role in analytics and creating or changing

formations of teams to figure out which players would make the most successful combination

and hopefully help elevate the franchises.

I think the most eye-opening part of the class for me was how statistics can so easily be

misrepresented to show a favored response within the data. By changing small aspects of the

presentation, charts and graphs can purposely mislead readers into making assumptions about the

data, or making it look like the results are different from what they are. This has caused me to be

somewhat skeptical and to view any information listed in magazines, newspapers, etc., very

carefully, keeping in mind the tricks that are so often used to deceive readers, so I can avoid

being fooled. I think it is very important to pay close attention to these types of tricks, especially

with how controversial everything seems to have become recently. Viewing information

subjectively and making our own decisions based off the way we interpret the data is going to be

a lot more accurate than blindly trusting whoever is posting study. Of course, not all studies are
going to be heavily skewed or misrepresented, but better to be skeptical and to take a closer look

just in case.

Overall, the course has been helpful in showing how much statistics is involved with

everyday life. It plays a much bigger role than I ever realized and has given me a greater

appreciation for the subject. After witnessing the difficulty of the material personally, it also

makes you realize it’s not the type of job just anyone could do. It takes a very particular way of

thinking to understand and apply this type of math within research and different job fields. As

much as I learned within the class, I quickly understood that it is not the type of job a person like

me would do well in, and I absolutely appreciate the others that do.