Section outline

  • Course Overview

    This course prepares and provides you with the knowledge and skills to read, interpret, and produce tables and graphs, and covers central tendency, spread and dispersion, and scientific notation. 

    It teaches the fundamentals of numerical data and how to recognize different types of data to make assessments.

    Learning Outcomes

    This course will help you to:

    1. Use numerical data to describe research with detail and precision
    2. Define average and central tendency, use these to analyze data, and understand what they tell you about typical observations in data
    3. Measure the spread of data to understand and assess variation in data
    4. Recognize and make sense of bar charts, pie charts, histograms, box plots, line graphs, and scatterplots, and identify what questions to ask to interpret the data
    5. Apply a seven-step framework to interpret numerical data with confidence and clarity

    • Course Instructor: John MacInnes

      • John MacInnes

        John MacInnes is Emeritus Professor of Sociology and Statistics at the University of Edinburgh, a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and a Chartered Statistician. He was Vice President of the Royal Statistical Society (2019-2020), Strategic Advisor to the ESRC and British Academy on quantitative skills development, and helped develop the UK Q-Step programme.

        His substantive research interests have ranged from social demography to gender studies, nationalism and employment relations, confirming John Tukey’s claim that statisticians get to play in everyone’s backyard.

        View Bio for John MacInnes

      • Course Resources

        You will need to access certain files and resources throughout the course to get the most out of the activities. You can find them all here. 

      • Video Transcripts

        You can access all video transcripts here.

      • Pre-Course Self Assessment

        Before you dive into this course, spend a few moments reflecting on your familiarity with the topic and your current level of skills confidence. 

        You will then re-visit the same questions in our Post-Course Self Assessment and reflect on how the course has helped you develop in confidence and grow your skills. 

        • Module One: Why Is Most Data Numerical?

          This module will help you to:

          1. Use numerical data to describe research with detail and precision
          2. Explain the difference between cases, data, values, and variables

        • Module Two: What Is the Average, Level, or Central Tendency of Data?

          This module will help you to:

          1. Define what the average is and use this to analyze data
          2. Define average and central tendency and understand what this tells you about the typical observations in data

        • Module Three: What Is the Spread or Dispersion of Data?

          This module will help you to:

          1. Measure the spread of data to understand and assess variation in data
          2. Use Excel to calculate the standard deviation and interquartile range

        • Module Four: How Do I Understand the Data in Pie Charts, Bar Charts, and Histograms?

          This module will help you to:

          1. Recognize pie charts, bar charts, and histograms
          2. Make sense of and evaluate the data they present

        • Module Five: How Do I Understand the Data in Box Plots, Line Graphs, and Scatterplots?

          This module will help you to:

          1. Recognize box plots, line graphs, and scatter plots
          2. Make sense of and evaluate the data they present

        • Module Six: How Do I Understand the Data in a Graph?

          This module will help you to:

          1. Easily recognize and differentiate between each graph
          2. Identify what questions to ask of graphs to be able to read and interpret the data they display

        • Module Seven: How Can I Use and Interpret Numbers in Data Well?

          This module will help you to:

          1. Apply a seven-step framework to interpret any numerical data with confidence and clarity

        • Glossary of Key Terms

          In addition to the glossary you’ll find woven throughout the course, you can find the full glossary collated in one place here.

        • Post-Course Self Assessment

          Now you’ve completed the course, spend a few moments reflecting on where your familiarity with the topics and your confidence skills le vels are at now. 

          Has the course helped you develop new skills and grow your confidence?

          You'll need to complete the Post-Course Self Assessment in order to download your certificate. If you didn't do the Pre-Course Self Assessment before starting the course, please go to the top of the page and reflect on your familiarity with the topic and your level of skills confidence before you started the course.

          • Completion: Certificate

            Completing all modules (plus the pre and post-course assessments) will unlock the course certificate, which you can then download here. Your course certificate will only be made available once you have completed all these sections.

            If you have difficulty accessing your certificate, please contact the Sage support team at: onlinesupport@sagepub.co.uk. You can also check out this FAQ page which may be helpful.

            • Give Feedback About This Course

              Did you enjoy the course? Please take two minutes to share your feedback. We use learner feedback in future course updates and developments to provide an excellent learning experience.

            • Accessibility, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

              We have high standards of accessibility on Sage Campus and as of May/June 2024 all activities within this course are keyboard and screen reader compatible. For more details on accessibility standards, please see the Sage Campus Accessibility Guide.

              For those using assistive technology, please note that within this course:

              • Tab components: JAWS and NVDA behave slightly differently. For NVDA to keep reading, it is best to exit focus mode and go back to browse mode. 
              • Matching: JAWS does not read out question label on dropdown focus. 

              Additionally, please refer to our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion statement which outlines our commitment to high standards of DEI on Sage Campus.