Hey Everyone.
Last time I posted I went into a bit of detail with the current class I am taking part in (Forensics Research).
I wanted to post more about the statistical software we use for research analysis. The software is created by IBM and is called SPSS. We’ve only got a small wiff of what it can actually do in terms of analyzing data. But, as I am slowly getting used to coding my data results, I am finding it’s quite an awesome tool to use. I also noticed that a lot of social science students use this software for their own research exhibits.
The framework for the program seems VERY similar to the way Microsoft Excel works and functions. The biggest difference noticed is when you actually want to analyze a certain aspect of the data you have collected and recorded. You can find a various amounts of things on your collection of data. We’re talking about finding the Mean, Median, Mode, Standard Deviation, Sum, Minimum and Maximum values, the range and variance…. and as you can see I can go on and on about it…
My favorite part is that there are ways to find “outliners”, or data that might be wrong or entered in error. It is data that really makes no sense and shouldn’t really be included at all. This way you can ignore that data when trying to find say the Mean age of smokers in a British Columbia. An outliner would be if someone on the list was 452 years old, which doesn’t really make sense and probably was entered in error. The age could have been 45 or 52 and it was entered in wrong. (I wish I could live 452 years….) And, therefore you just wouldn’t want to use that aspect of the data in your final results.
You’re also able to create scatter plot graphs to view the data. Now it really depends on the type of data you have and how complex it is in terms of what you are analyzing. Sometimes a scatter plot will be the best to view the data. A lot of people like you visualize things, and creating graphics is an awesome and fun way to view data. Not all of us like to sit there and stare at numbers on a spread sheet. So, the graphs provide us with a nice friendly image that we can easily relate to and understand the trend that is taking place.
In some examples you might prefer to depict certain data results in a bar chart/graph. I personally prefer Bar graphics, however, once again it does in fact depend on the data. When you have tons and tons of data being analyzed at once. Well, it probably doesn’t make sense to have 1000 bar’s. In that case a scatter plot or a pie chart might be more useful to use as a visual representation.
And once again, there are many ways to display the bar graphs in terms how colours, shapes and sizes. The format how of things look can be adjusted and changed very easily in SPSS. It’s not like Excel, where you’re limited to certain styles and presentation styles. In SPSS you have lots of power when it comes down to formatting the look of your data.
Now you might ask, well what the heck does this have to do with Forensics? Well right now in class we are starting off easy and using data that is more commonly used. However, there is a lot that SPSS can do for Forensic analysts. A crime analyst may gather data on certain crime rates in different cities and see which cities have more crime rates. And to further go on that, it allows them to understand why a certain city has a higher crime rate. As a computer crime analyst it might be that you gather data in terms of what popular hack methods are taking place on the Internet. And, then figuring out why a certain attack method is being used more commonly compared to the rest.
Well folks, that’s all for now and I hope everyone is enjoying their semester!