How Important is Statistics in SLP Graduate School?

[azure]

Hi guys,

For those of you who are attending or have attended an SLP graduate program, do you use statistics often? How important is statistics in an SLP program? What kind of statistics do you use, if any? How heavily is your statistics analysis based on software, such as Excel and others? I'm really poor at statistics, especially using software. Your advice would be deeply appreciated!!

[NYslp93]

12 hours ago, azure said:

Hi guys,

For those of you who are attending or have attended an SLP graduate program, do you use statistics often? How important is statistics in an SLP program? What kind of statistics do you use, if any? How heavily is your statistics analysis based on software, such as Excel and others? I'm really poor at statistics, especially using software. Your advice would be deeply appreciated!!

So far, the statistics I have had to use have to do with determining scores and how many standard deviations they fall from the mean.  Which you can do if you know simple math.

I know my program has a CAPSTONE for second-year students in order to graduate but I have no idea what it entails honestly.

[AlwaysaFalcon]

I agree with @Mary93. The most statistics I have used is how to interpret a score from a standardized assessment given to a client, which entails mean, median, standard deviation, percentile ranks, raw scores etc. 

[NatRose]

Unrelated, but I'd rather eat my own shoe than take statistics again.  Argh.  Does grad school make you take it again?

[azure]

3 hours ago, NatRose said:

Unrelated, but I'd rather eat my own shoe than take statistics again.  Argh.  Does grad school make you take it again?

Nay. I'm currently taking Statistics as an ASHA requirement, but my top choice grad program requires a statistics-based research project as a part of the degree. So I'm a little concerned as I'm so not good at it!

[Louly]

Statistics is used in graduate school. Research is very important since it guides us in our practice. As mentioned by everyone else, stats is mostly used with interpreting standardized tests. For my program specifically, we read tons of research articles and we have to summarize the findings. It'll also help you during your research methodology course and with your thesis (if you're required to do one). 

[azure]

1 hour ago, Louly said:

Statistics is used in graduate school. Research is very important since it guides us in our practice. As mentioned by everyone else, stats is mostly used with interpreting standardized tests. For my program specifically, we read tons of research articles and we have to summarize the findings. It'll also help you during your research methodology course and with your thesis (if you're required to do one). 

Thanks for the advice! Do you use statistic software often? Such as Excel and others?

[Louly]

@azure when I took Stats, we did everything by hand. I didn’t even know about a statistic software.

I havent taken a graduate level research methodology, yet. That’s a course I’ll be taking this upcoming Spring. Sorry, I’m unable to answer that question but I don’t mind getting back to you in a few months

[YaketyYak]

I think it depends on the program and how research-heavy it is. In my program, we have to take an entire class just on research statistics and computing them by hand or with calculators and software. It is intense! 

[Auuudriana]

Just a basic understanding is okay (standard deviation, mean, etc) unless you're planning to do or required to do some hardcore research.

[WannabSLP124]

My research methods course was pretty stats heavy. Outside of that, my professors want us to show that we understand the bell curve, percentile ranks, standard scores, and standard deviations. I'm sure if you go to a program known for research it may be different though. 

[lexical_gap]

I'm a speech-language pathologist working in the schools.  Out in the field, a base knowledge of statistics (bell curve, percentile ranks, standard scores, standard deviations) has helped me interpret and understand test results.  Being able to interpret and explain the test findings in parent- and teacher-friendly language is something I do every week. 

It has also made me critical of other assessments in other fields and the scores they report.  For example, one of the academic tests my district uses reports that students testing in the 70th percentile are "below target" for certain academic skills.