I am Sisyphus and Statistics is my boulder.
Math has never been a skill of mine. My calculator’s history is shameful, I never memorized my times tables, and don’t even get me started on “imaginary numbers.” Last summer I took a required statistics class during the summer along with a Human Bio lab because, well… why not be wildly stressed out during a pandemic. My logic was that I’d never have that amount of free time ever again and getting it over with would help me in the long run. I still support that decision, but I submitted that final exam in hopes that my ears would never hear the words “t-test, standard deviation, or normal distribution curve” ever again.
These conversations don’t come up everyday, but they’ve surprised me more often than I’d like. Like today when I realized that a final paper required excel sheets, t-tests, and P values, so I apologize in advance if this reads like a quasi-research/blog post. The numbers were all pulled from the survey posted a few days ago. The purpose of the study was to figure out if the participants (hopefully you) reported a higher emotional response to the films (visual observations) over the dialogues and descriptions and *drumroll please* Bing Bong will never stop making full-grown adults cry, but BB definitely pulls more heartstrings on camera than BB does on paper.
Today’s Statistics was different because I designed the experiment myself so I was interested in the results, but I suppose it never hit me that I’d have to put them together. After starring blankly at scattered numbers, 12 “build-a-graph” website tabs, and realizing I only had one stress pop-tart left, I phoned a friend for help because clearly, I wasn’t getting anywhere.
My brain feels exactly like my out-of-control web browser looked one hour ago.
Statistics, its been almost a full year since we closed that chapter. Please stop calling me.
Anyway, I’m exhausted. It’s finals week, I have two jobs again, we’re on day 8, and I’m a procrastinating perfectionist who’s trying her best.
See ya tomorrow.
Aimee the Ramblin’ Woman 