Mathematicians Needed!

[Harv]

Hello folks,

I am currently studying the IB, which means I have to study maths. I'm finding the coursework a real drag and don't have long left until it has to be in; and so I was wondering, what with the number of intellectuals on here, if I could get some guidance, or at least pointing in the right direction.

The coursework has to be an investigation into some data. I have my data (guest attendance figures from 2008-2013 for all Disney theme parks in Florida, California and Paris) but no research question. I've so far done the real basics, like working out average attendance figures and percentage changes and such, and plotting it onto graphs. Whilst other people are doing Chi-squared tests and Pearson correlation coefficients and stuff, I'm not sure if that's something that suits my data? Not even sure what they are to be honest. As you can tell, maths really isn't my strong point.

Does anybody here have any idea what I could look into or do with my data, or how to go about it? I realize I haven't given much information, if you need any more I can explain.

Many, many thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to help me out here. It's really gratefully accepted.

 

[Dar]

Does a new attraction increase visitor numbers? How does the weather affect attendance? Or do you need more tightly focused maths questions?

 

[jenniferelka]

I know how you feel, I'm no maths natural but I've been dealing with a bit of stats in Psychology.

In terms of inferential stat tests, it is dependent on your data type and what you are wanting to find e.g correlation/relationship or a difference, on which one is most appropriate.
When looking for relationships, I would do a Spearman's Rho test to work out a correlation coefficent and see if it is positive or negative and if it is significant. I think that could work with @Dar suggestion of a new attraction in a year, so looking into the relationship between visitor numbers and years when a major ride is added for example.

I'm not too sure about the others at the moment and I feel like I may be saying a load of rubbish (plus I've not had experience with applying stats away from Psychology) but I'll ask a couple of my friends who are doing stats modules as part of their Maths and see what they say because it'll be much more valid advice than from me haha.