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Statistics hiding in plain sight: How this four-minute long interview on polling data can be used in class

Statistical literacy is important. I love examples of folks using statistical concepts without being snobby statistical gatekeepers.  For instance, see jargon-free statistical literacy that helps people make important decisions about their children's health or informs the  immigration debate .   As stats teachers, I think we are remiss if we don't talk about political polling in our classes. At least a little bit. Here is a brief, nonpartisan interview about political polling you can use in class to see whether students can identify the concepts they've learned. Here is a short  NPR i nterview o n  how to think properly about political polling. If you use the interview in class, you could ask your students to identify the statistics and research methods mentioned.  I clocked margin of error,  sampling error,  and research methodology evaluation. If using an audio interview isn't your thing, check out t his summary piece from NPR, based on the...

Online Day 1: Ask your students to collect and analyze data from their FB friends

Hello, my friends. We live in strange times. I will try to share everything so that this transition to online education is more manageable.

My university is pausing teaching for this week (3/16-3/20), so we can prepare.

I've prepared my first lesson. I've used this lesson before. I like this lesson because you can use it with ANY of the inferential statistics taught in Intro Stats.

Here is my PPT for the project. I used it for an Independent t-test, but you can use it for any test.

What you need: A FB account, a way to share a lecture with your students, a way for your students to share ideas about what sorts of variables you can glean from FB.
What your students need: A FB account (I suggest you create an extra data set to share with students who don't have one), a way to conduct statistical tests (by hand, calculator, JASP, Excel, R). 

Tips: 

1. I don't think this is an excellent way to introduce a statistical test, but I think it is a useful review for any statistical analysis.

2. You can introduce this task by introducing the extensive data collecting that FB does on users each and every day. You don't need to frame it as evil: It just is. Here is a good video that describes one, ongoing project FB data programmers are doing: https://research.fb.com/videos/social-connectedness/

3. For those still worried about students working independently: Every student will create their own data set.

If you have any questions about this, feel free to contact me at hartnett004@gannon.edu

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