DiscussionsIntroductionContains unread postsThe goal of our fi

Discussions
IntroductionContains unread posts
The goal of our first discussion is to get to know each other. Be
creative, post a picture, find an internet article that is your
favorite and answer the questions below. For this virtual
discussion, picture yourself sitting around the table getting to
know the class. There are no wrong answers. I look forward
getting to know you.
From one of your famous or most read or admired authors, what
is a quote you might live by or like to tell others? Or, list some
significant event that you know about that relates to this course
topic. Or list some other famous quote. Maybe there is a great
scientific discovery you admire. Or describe a great person or
hero in your life.
Next, list what music you listen to; what you watch on film,
television, or video, what you read in print or online, and where
you go to have fun for travel or recreation.
What is the view outside of your window? What is your
favorite app on your phone or electronic device?
Is your fridge more likely to be full of food or take-out
containers?
Describing yourself using 4 adjectives, what would they be?
Instructions: Your initial post should be at least 250 words.
Please respond to at least 2 other students. Responses should be
a minimum of 100 words and include direct questions. This
discussion submission serves as your official entry into the
course. This Introduction Discussion must be submitted the
first week of the course, by 11:59 p.m., ET, on Sunday to
maintain your registration in the course. Students who do not
post to this discussion by 11:59 p.m., ET, Sunday will be
automatically dropped from the course.

W1: Selection of Artifacts
Your portfolio is a way to gain your competitive advantage in
the marketplace. Throughout the course, you will be editing
previous coursework and uploading to your portfolio. In
addition, you will create new artifacts (items that you want to
showcase) to include in your portfolio. Your portfolio should
include a diverse collection of artifacts that represent you.
Consider how you will use the portfolio after the completion of
the course? How will you use the final product to enhance
your personal branding?
For the second part of our discussion this week, please answer
the following questions. Based on your reading and
understanding, how would you describe an ePortfolio? How do
you develop one? What are signature assignments and how do
you select the best one to include in your portfolio? A list of
the signature assignments is located in the resources area. Will
you include videos and pictures?
Be creative as there is not a right or wrong response. Provide
details of the artifacts you would like to include. Consider what
will be of value to the person reviewing the artifacts. When you
respond to your peers, consider artifacts they may not have
included.
Instructions: You are expected to participate during the current
week's discussion. Contact your instructor in cases of
emergency or uncontrollable circumstances.
W2: Portfolium
Did you know that APUS has partnerships with employers that
use Portfolium? Did you know that Portfolium also has
subscriptions from other employers? Portfolium allows
prospective employers to search based on skills. This is
different from looking at a resume. How do you think having
employers being able to search for skills for a possible
opportunity over reviewing your resume helps you?

Discussion Guidelines
Now that you have your login for Portfolium. Research the two
tabs. What will you include on the Profile tab of the
Portfolium? The Portfolio tab will be where you post your
artifacts and signature assignment. The artifacts/assignment
should be tagged for one or more skills. Also, employers will
not read a long assignment. You need to post a short blog, a
short PowerPoint or a short personal video for each
artifact/assignment that provides a synopsis of the assignment
and explains how the artifact/assignment supports the skill.
What do you think you will do for each artifact/assignment?
Why?
Discussion Guidelines
W4: Central Theme
Your portfolio should have a central theme, such as leadership,
management, project management, etc. Your central theme
should be supported by the skills. What will be your central
theme? Why are you selecting this theme? What skills will you

select to support the central theme? How do your artifacts and
signature assignment support the skills?
W5: Different eportfolios
You are now close to submitting your draft eportfolio. APUS
uses Portfolium as its eportfolio software. Look at eportfolios
from two different Universities (google eportfolio examples)
and compare and contrast those sites with Portfolium. What are
some of the advantages of Portfolium? What are some of the
drawbacks? How will you overcome the drawbacks?
W6: What to accomplish!
What do you hope to accomplish with your eportfolio? Why and
how?

W7: Professional Growth
How helpful was this class in preparing evidence of what you
accomplished in this program? How will what you learned
improve your professional growth?
W8: Career Services
Did you know that Career Services is very familiar with
Portfolium? As an APU/AMU grad, you can use career
counseling anytime. Those in career services can help you
tweak your eportfolio or even update it for a certain position.
How will you use Career Services to help make your eportfolio
more powerful? Do you see yourself using Career Services in
the future?

. Response 1 Cherie McElroy-Burch
RE: Discussion - Week 3 Attachment
COLLAPSE
General Social Survey Dataset
According to Frankfort-Nachmias et al. (2020), measures of
central tendency describe the average or typical distribution of a
dataset. An analysis was conducted on two variables from The
General Social Survey dataset. The General Social Survey is a
survey that monitors and studies the trends in behavior,
attitudes, and practices of United States residents.(NORC, n.d.).
The data collected includes information such as respondent’s
age, citizenship, sexual orientation and more. A histogram was
created to report the descriptive analysis of the respondents
family income, while a pie chart was created to report the
analysis of the respondents race.
Descriptive Analysis of Family Income in Constant $
Frankfort-Nachmias et al. (2020) notes a histogram is used to
show the differences in percentages or frequencies in categories
with an ordinal or interval-ratio level of measurement.
A histogram was used to analyze the variable labeled Family
Income in Constant $. Considered as a continuous variable, the
level of measurement is interval-ratio. Frankfort-Nachmias et
al. (2020) asserts that an interval-ratio level of measurement is
a variable that can be rank-ordered, and the measurements must

be equally spaced. This dataset shows that 2,314 respondents
provided an answer to this question., and 224 respondents did
not provide an answer. The mean of this dataset is 33,965.68,
the mode is 31,928, and the median is 21,285.00. The mean
family income in constant $ is 33,965 indicating that the
average income of the respondents fell below the national
average of 50,200 in 2009 (National Center for Education
Statistics, 2010). This also suggests that the sample is not
representative of the population. The mean is referred to as the
center of gravity of distribution because it incorporates all
scores (Frankfort-Nachmias et al., 2020). Because the mean
incorporates all scores into the calculation, it is sensitive to
extreme scores in the distribution. Therefore, it is my belief that
using the mean is the best measure for central tendency in this
dataset. The differences in the mean, median, and mode suggest
that the variable is not normally distributed and this is also
indicated in the curve shown in Figure 1. The curve is slightly
pulled to the left. The standard deviation for Family Income in
Constant $ is 35,537.075, and relatively close to the mean. This
suggests that most of the reported incomes are fairly similar.
This is also evident in Figure 1. The range of the data set is
134,581, while the minimum is 237 and the maximum is
134,817. While the spread of the range is great, it is not a true
indicator of the income of the respondents.
Figure 1
Family Income in Constant $
Descriptive Analysis of Race of Respondent

Frankfort-Nachmias et al. (2020) asserts that a pie chart is used
to display the differences in frequencies or percentages in
categories with a nominal or ordinal level of measurement. The
slices of the pie chart represent the proportion of the total in
each category (Wagner, 2020). A pie chart was chosen to
display the data because it displays the percentages of the race
of respondents in an easy-to-read visual display. The race of
respondent is considered a categorical variable. The level of
measurement used is nominal. According to Frankfort-Nachmias
et al. (2020), a nominal level of measurement uses numbers or
symbols to categorize the data for the purpose of naming,
labeling, or classifying the observations. The data
communicates that there were 2,538 participants in this dataset
that provided responses to the question, and none missing. The
mode is 1 which is supported by the pie graph showing that the
group with the highest frequency is the white group. Out of
2,538 respondents, there were 1,890 respondents that selected
white, while 386 selected black, and 262 selected other. This
suggests that there was a lack of variability and thus the groups
are not equally distributed. The data collected from the dataset
can be used to address racial disparities. In The majority of
respondents to this survey were white. The data suggests that
other races were underrepresented. The results of the data does
not show the true habits, behavior, and attitudes of U.S.
residents. This can affect access to healthcare, education,
employment, and more. A potential research question this
variable may help to answer and drive social change is to what
extent does race affect income?
Figure 2

Race of Respondent
References
Frankfort-Nachmias, C., Leon-Guerrero, A., & Davis, G.
(2020). Social statistics for a diverse society (9th ed.). Sage
Publications.
National Center for Education Statistics. (2010). Median
household income, by state: Selected years, 1990 through 2009.
Nces.Ed.Gov. Retrieved June 14, 2022, from
https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d10/tables/dt10_025.asp
NORC at The University of Chicago. (n.d.). Get GSS Data |
NORC. Https://Gss.Norc.Org. Retrieved June 12, 2022, from
https://gss.norc.org/get-the-data
Wagner, III, W. E. (2020). Using IBM® SPSS® statistics for
research methods and social science statistics (7th ed.). Sage
Publications. . Letitia Melvin
Response 2.
Monique Bibbins RE: Discussion - Week 3 Attachment
COLLAPSE
Descriptive analysis for a continuous variable
According to Frankfort-Nachmias et al., 2020,
researchers incorporate central tendency and variability
measures to describe their data distribution effectively. Since
1972, the General Social Survey (GSS) has provided politicians,

policymakers, and scholars with a clear and unbiased
perspective on what American society. The GSS collects data on
contemporary American society to monitor and explain trends in
opinions, attitudes and behaviors (University of Chicago, About
the GSS). The General Social Survey dataset provided
responses from N=507 participants with a mean of 45967.22. A
continuous variable is defined as a variable can take an
uncountable set of values or infinite set of values (Byjus, 2020).
Data from the general social survey labeled (CONRINC) falls
under a continuous variable and contains information from 310
participants, out of which 197 missing.
Table 1 below provides us with the mean of 45967.2,
the better measure for central tendency is the median 33255.00
and a mode of 40645. In this display, the standard deviation
calculates at 41388.340 indicating 68% of the participants’
reported income is between 0 and 41388.340.
Table 1.
.
The data from figure 1 below, indicates a positive skewness of
1.496. A positively skewed distribution with the tail on its right
side with a positive distribution greater than 0 (What is
skewness in Statistics?: Statistics for data science 2020). As
figure 1 depicts, the value of mean is the greatest one followed
by median and then by mode.
Figure 1

.
Descriptive analysis for a categorical variable
Descriptive statistics is used to analyze data for a single
categorical variable include frequencies, percentages, fractions
and/or relative frequencies obtained from the variable's
frequency distribution table (Introduction to statistics:
Descriptive Statistics 2021). The General Social Survey dataset
provided data in Table 2 below shows, the frequency
distribution for race of participants. In this survey, participants
identify themselves as one of three race categories: white at
66.9%, black 83.2 %, other 100 %. A pie chart is chosen
because it is visually simpler than other types of graphs and is
easier to check of the reasonableness or accuracy of
calculations. According to Table 2, the data describes of 507
participants, all participants answered.
The pie graph (Figure 2) below, clearly delineates the whites as
the largest group, which depicts an uneven distribution of
variability. This data may affect social change in future
research, if data is collected from more diverse communities.
Table 2
Figure 2

References
Byjus. (2020, January 6). Continuous variable - types, examples
and discrete variables. BYJUS.
https://byjus.com/maths/continuous-variable/
Curtin University Library. (2021). Introduction to statistics:
Descriptive Statistics. LibGuides.
https://libguides.library.curtin.edu.au/uniskills/numeracy-
skills/statistics/descriptive#:~:text=Descriptive%20statistics%2
0used%20to%20analyse,the%20variable's%20frequency%20dist
ribution%20table.
(2020). Social statistics for a diverse High School Longitudinal
society (9th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications
Walden University Blackboard. https://class.waldenu.edu.
University of Chicago. (n.d.). About the GSS. NORC.
https://gss.norc.org/About-The-GSS
What is skewness in Statistics?: Statistics for data science.
Analytics Vidhya. (2020, December 23).
https://www.analyticsvidhya.com/blog/2020/07/what-is-
skewness-
statistics/#:~:text=A%20positively%20skewed%20distribution%
20is,median%20and%20then%20by%20mode.

Rubric Detail
Select Grid View or List View to change the rubric's layout.
Content
Name: RSCH_8210_Week3_Discussion_Rubric
Grid ViewList View
Excellent
Good
Fair
Poor
Discussion Posting Content
Points:
Points Range:
7.2 (36%) - 8 (40%)

Discussion posting demonstrates an excellent understanding of
all of the concepts and key points presented in the text(s) and
Learning Resources. Posting provides significant detail
(including multiple relevant examples), evidence from the
readings and other scholarly sources, and discerning ideas.
Feedback:
Points:
Points Range:
6.4 (32%) - 7.1 (35.5%)

Discussion posting demonstrates a good understanding of most
of the concepts and key points presented in the text(s) and
Learning Resources. Posting provides moderate detail
(including at least one pertinent example), evidence from the
Feedback:
Points:
Points Range:
5.6 (28%) - 6.3 (31.5%)

Discussion posting demonstrates a fair understanding of the
concepts and key points as presented in the text(s) and Learning
Resources. Posting may be lacking or incorrect in some area, or
in detail and specificity, and/or may not include sufficient
pertinent examples or provide sufficient evidence from the
readings.
Feedback:
Points:

Points Range:
0 (0%) - 5.5 (27.5%)
Discussion posting demonstrates poor or no understanding of
the concepts and key points of the text(s) and Learning
Resources. Posting is incorrect and/or shallow, and/or does not
include any pertinent examples or provide sufficient evidence
from the readings.
Feedback:
Peer Feedback and Interaction

Points:
Points Range:
7.2 (36%) - 8 (40%)
Response posting is excellent and fully contributes to the
quality of interaction by offering substantive constructive
critiques, suggestions, in-depth questions, additional resources,
and stimulating thoughts and/or probes that draw from the
readings and other scholarly sources.
Feedback:

Points:
Points Range:
6.4 (32%) - 7.1 (35.5%)
Response posting is good and partially contributes to the
quality of interaction by offering adequate constructive
Feedback:

Points:
Points Range:
5.6 (28%) - 6.3 (31.5%)
Response posting is fair and partially contributes to the quality
of interaction but offers insufficient constructive critiques or
suggestions, shallow questions, or provides poor quality
additional resources.
Feedback:

Points:
Points Range:
0 (0%) - 5.5 (27.5%)
Student does not interact with peers (0 points) or the response
posting does not contribute to the quality of interaction by
offering any constructive critiques, suggestions, questions, or
Feedback:

Writing
Points:
Points Range:
3.6 (18%) - 4 (20%)
Postings are well organized, use scholarly tone, contain
original writing and proper paraphrasing, follow APA Style,
contain very few or no writing and/or spelling errors, and are
fully consistent with graduate-level writing style.
Feedback:

Points:
Points Range:
3.2 (16%) - 3.5 (17.5%)
Postings are mostly consistent with graduate-level writing
style. Postings may have some small organization, scholarly
tone, writing, or APA Style issues, and/or may contain a few
writing and spelling errors.
Feedback:

Points:
Points Range:
2.8 (14%) - 3.1 (15.5%)
Postings are somewhat below graduate-level writing style.
Postings may be lacking in organization, scholarly tone, APA
Style, and/or contain many writing and/or spelling errors, or
show moderate reliance on quoting versus original writing and
paraphrasing.

Feedback:
Points:
Points Range:
0 (0%) - 2.7 (13.5%)
ostings are well below graduate-level writing style
expectations for organization, scholarly tone, APA Style, and
writing, or show heavy reliance on quoting.

Feedback:
Show Descriptions
Show Feedback
Discussion Posting Content--
Levels of Achievement:
Excellent
7.2 (36%) - 8 (40%)
Discussion posting demonstrates an excellent understanding of
all of the concepts and key points presented in the text(s) and
Learning Resources. Posting provides significant detail
(including multiple relevant examples), evidence from the

Good
6.4 (32%) - 7.1 (35.5%)
Discussion posting demonstrates a good understanding of most
of the concepts and key points presented in the text(s) and
Learning Resources. Posting provides moderate detail
(including at least one pertinent example), evidence from the
Fair
5.6 (28%) - 6.3 (31.5%)
Discussion posting demonstrates a fair understanding of the
concepts and key points as presented in the text(s) and Learning
Resources. Posting may be lacking or incorrect in some area, or
in detail and specificity, and/or may not include sufficient
pertinent examples or provide sufficient evidence from the
readings.
Poor
0 (0%) - 5.5 (27.5%)

Discussion posting demonstrates poor or no understanding of
the concepts and key points of the text(s) and Learning
Resources. Posting is incorrect and/or shallow, and/or does not
include any pertinent examples or provide sufficient evidence
from the readings.
Feedback:
Peer Feedback and Interaction--
Excellent
7.2 (36%) - 8 (40%)
Response posting is excellent and fully contributes to the
quality of interaction by offering substantive constructive

Good
6.4 (32%) - 7.1 (35.5%)
Response posting is good and partially contributes to the quality
of interaction by offering adequate constructive critiques,
suggestions, in-depth questions, additional resources, and
stimulating thoughts and/or probes that draw from the readings
and other scholarly sources.
Fair
5.6 (28%) - 6.3 (31.5%)
Response posting is fair and partially contributes to the quality
of interaction but offers insufficient constructive critiques or
suggestions, shallow questions, or provides poor quality
Poor
0 (0%) - 5.5 (27.5%)
Student does not interact with peers (0 points) or the response

posting does not contribute to the quality of interaction by
offering any constructive critiques, suggestions, questions, or
Feedback:
Writing--
Excellent
3.6 (18%) - 4 (20%)
Postings are well organized, use scholarly tone, contain original
writing and proper paraphrasing, follow APA Style, contain
very few or no writing and/or spelling errors, and are fully
consistent with graduate-level writing style.
Good
3.2 (16%) - 3.5 (17.5%)

Postings are mostly consistent with graduate-level writing style.
Postings may have some small organization, scholarly tone,
writing, or APA Style issues, and/or may contain a few writing
and spelling errors.
Fair
2.8 (14%) - 3.1 (15.5%)
Postings are somewhat below graduate-level writing style.
Postings may be lacking in organization, scholarly tone, APA
Style, and/or contain many writing and/or spelling errors, or
show moderate reliance on quoting versus original writing and
paraphrasing.
Poor
0 (0%) - 2.7 (13.5%)
ostings are well below graduate-level writing style expectations
for organization, scholarly tone, APA Style, and writing, or
show heavy reliance on quoting.

Feedback:
Total Points:
20
Name: RSCH_8210_Week3_Discussion_Rubric
REFERENCES
(2020). Social statistics for a diverse society (9th ed.).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
· Chapter 2, “The Organization and Graphic Presentation Data”
(pp. 27-74)
Wagner, III, W. E. (2020). Using IBM® SPSS® statistics for
research methods and social science statistics (7th ed.).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

· Chapter 5, “Charts and Graphs”
· Chapter 11, “Editing Output”
http://waldenwritingcenter.blogspot.com/2013/02/general -
guidance-on-data-displays.html
Required media
https://content.waldenu.edu/44f23dae414782b0c7ee3623246d9a
db.html#section_container0:~:text=Walden%20University%2C
%20LLC.%20(Producer).%20(2016j).%20Visual%20displays%2
0of%20data%20%5BVideo%20file%5D.%20Baltimore%2C%20
MD%3A%20Author.
Optional
https://content.waldenu.edu/44f23dae414782b0c7ee3623246d9a
db.html#section_container0:~:text=Skill%20Builders%3A,for%
20this%20week.
Discussion: Central Tendency and Variability
Understanding descriptive statistics and their variability is a
fundamental aspect of statistical analysis. On their own,
descriptive statistics tell us how frequently an observation
occurs, what is considered “average”, and how far data in our
sample deviate from being “average.” With descriptive
statistics, we are able to provide a summary of characteristics
from both large and small datasets. In addition to the valuable
information they provide on their own, measures of central
tendency and variability become important components in many
of the statistical tests that we will cover. Therefore, we can
think about central tendency and variability as the cornerstone
to the quantitative structure we are building.
For this Discussion, you will examine central tendency and
variability based on two separate variables. You will also
explore the implications for positive social change based on the
results of the data.
To prepare for this Discussion:

· Review this week’s Learning Resources and the Descriptive
Statistics media program.
· For additional support, review the Skill Builder: Visual
Displays for Categorical Variables and the Skill Builder: Visual
Displays for Continuous Variables, which you can find by
navigating back to your Blackboard Course Home Page. From
there, locate the Skill Builder link in the left navigation pane.
· Review the Chapter 4 of the Wagner text and the examples in
the SPSS software related to central tendency and variability.
· From the General Social Survey dataset found in this week’s
Learning Resources, use the SPSS software and choose one
continuous and one categorical variable Note: this dataset will
be different from your Assignment dataset).
· As you review, consider the implications for positive social
change based on the results of your data.By Day 3
Post, present, and report a descriptive analysis for your
variables, specifically noting the following:
For your continuous variable:
1. Report the mean, median, and mode.
2. What might be the better measure for central tendency? (i.e.,
mean, median, or mode) and why?
3. Report the standard deviation.
4. How variable are the data?
5. How would you describe this data?
6. What sort of research question would this variable help
answer that might inform social change?
Post the following information for your categorical variable:
7. A frequency distribution.
8. An appropriate measure of variation.
9. How variable are the data?
10. How would you describe this data?
11. What sort of research question would this variable help
answer that might inform social change?
Be sure to support your Main Post and Response Post with
reference to the week’s Learning Resources and other scholarly
evidence in APA Style.By Day 5

Respond to at least one colleagues’ post with a comment on the
presentation and interpretation of their analysis. In your
response, address the following questions:
12. Was the presentation of results clear? If so, provide some
specific comments on why. If not, provide constructive
suggestions.
13. Are you able to understand how the results might relate
back to positive social change? Do you think there are other
aspects of positive social change related to the results?

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