On Wednesday I walked nervously into a classroom 15 minutes early. I pulled up an Excel document that contained survey data from over 200 med students and then I got the projector all set. Just before 2pm the first of 12 students assigned to sit with me for two hours started flowing in.
Show time!
My task for the afternoon was to show these bright minds how the heck to create a pivot table so that they could make some conclusions about their survey data. The survey had been distributed to them a few months ago and it asked questions about respiratory symptoms and demographics. Our job was to considered whether housing conditions caused asthma-like symptoms in the sample.
My opening statement: "Hi! My name is Sara and I'm a PhD student in Preventive and Social Medicine. Who is ready to have their life changed by pivot tables?!"
Silence.
I fumbled, bumbled, and stumbled my way through the tutorial. It was my first time ever working with students and I didn't want them to think I was a huge dork. I wanted them to like me and like the content that I was demonstrating. But, it didn't help that there was a rumor that med students loathe public health tutorials.
All I could do to make up for my lack of clarity and other mishaps was smile and promise to get them out early.
Today, I had a second chance to redeem myself and it was fantastic!
I explained that the Data Dictionary contained the variable names and descriptions for all the questions asked in the survey. Then I asked the students to consider what characteristics of the sample are important to look at and write down the variable name associated with the characteristic. Next, they looked through the variable names for respiratory symptoms for which they'd like to know the frequency information. Next, I showed them how to create the pivot tables. They worked in small groups to make pivot tables and afterwards we discussed interesting things that they found (e.g. 30% of respondents have been diagnosed with asthma and a high percentage of students said they live in housing conditions that affect their health).
Thankfully, I've been taking a biostatistics and epidemiology class this semester and I was able to elaborate on things to consider when reading studies that used a survey design. I even mentioned a little about my own experience collecting data through a mailed survey.
This group got into the whole tutorial; three students even stayed after the tutorial to talk to me about research in general and my own research - so cool!!
Since my research assistant at MInT is probably wrapping up in August, I'm sure I'll be looking for work. After today's tutorial I'm really hoping that I can find something more long-term as a tutor. I think it's really fun to teach when I feel confident about what I'm doing, so fingers crossed I get more opportunities to show off that I'm a tutor super star!
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