Answer each question using your own words (not the formal definition). Pretend you are describing each to your friend who is not a statistician.
Describe the two definitions of statistics.
What is a variable?
What is the difference between a population and a sample?
Describe why researchers conduct experiments?
What are the two kinds of variables and their definitions, used in an experiment?
What does a correlation study examine?
Describe the 3 measures of central tendency.
Why do you think we use measures of central tendency?
What is a representative sample?
How can a researcher make a sample more representative?
Sample solution
Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell.
In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.
God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.
Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.
To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.
References
Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.
Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies, 4(8), 487.
Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.
Sample Answer
Sample Answer
Statistics in Plain Language
Two Definitions of Statistics:
1. Descriptive Statistics: These are like summaries that help us understand and describe data, such as averages or percentages.
2. Inferential Statistics: This helps us make predictions or draw conclusions about a larger group based on a smaller sample.
Variable:
A variable is something that can change or vary, like people’s ages, test scores, or colors of cars.
Population vs. Sample:
– Population: It’s like the whole group we’re interested in studying, like all students in a school.
– Sample: This is a smaller group taken from the population to represent the larger group for research or study.
Reasons for Conducting Experiments:
Researchers conduct experiments to test hypotheses, understand cause-and-effect relationships, and gather data to support their theories or ideas.
Types of Variables in an Experiment:
– Independent Variable: This is what the researcher changes or controls in an experiment.
– Dependent Variable: This is what is being measured or observed and can change based on the independent variable.
Correlation Study:
A correlation study examines how two variables are related or connected to each other, whether they move in the same direction, opposite directions, or not at all.
Measures of Central Tendency:
1. Mean: This is the average of a set of numbers.
2. Median: This is the middle number when the data is arranged in order.
3. Mode: This is the number that appears most frequently in a set of data.
Purpose of Using Measures of Central Tendency:
We use measures of central tendency to summarize and describe data in a meaningful and understandable way, helping us grasp the “center” or typical value of a dataset.
Representative Sample:
A representative sample is a subset of a population that accurately reflects the characteristics of the whole group, making it possible to generalize findings to the larger population.
Making a Sample More Representative:
To make a sample more representative, researchers can use random sampling techniques, ensure diversity in the sample, and consider factors that may influence the outcomes to capture a true reflection of the population’s characteristics.
