User: | Open Learning Faculty Member:
For my project I have decided to use graphs to represent a summary of my raw data. Because of my statistical tests used, I created a graph that shows the mean number of brush bushes per square meter at various elevations from the creek bottom. This graph shows the differences between the six elevations I compared. When analyzing my data, I decided to remove the highest 6m counted because I only had ~6 samples. This made my comparisons a lot more representative of the un-paved study area. I used a bar graph, and feel like this is the best way to visually represent how the density of brush bushes changes as the height from the creek increases.
I will also include a table denoting the significant differences between elevation categories for the big sagebrush bushes. There were no significant differences in the rabbitbrush bushes across the different elevations, so I will just report that in my results section.
This data took me a long time to go through and figure out how best to analyze it. I chose an ANOVA over t-tests because they are a more powerful statistical test. I also compared the valley bush distribution to a Poisson distribution.
