Reading a statistical table is like reading those BAL tables your Uni passes out during Orientation Week.

Alright. Stick with me. I had this idea when I was scrunching my hair this morning in a hotel in Long Island while on Spring Break.

I'm sure this is also the situation that inspired Salk to create the polio vaccine.

So, stats tables. These are tricky to teach because we don't use them, right? Not as mid-level statisticians. The software computes a test statistic, looks up that statistic on the appropriate table, and then reports a p-value. But, simultaneously, the students need to understand what is going on "under the hood."

This is a thing that always catches me up in class. Given how we do statistics nowadays, I spend all this freaking time explaining something of very little real-world value. Sorry, Fisher! Sometimes it feels like I'm trying to teach them how to decode something. But I may have thought of an easier way to explain it. While scrunching.

ANYWAY. I was scrunching my hair, and I thought, "Oh, test statistics tables (F, t, X2) are like those little business cards they gave us at Penn State during move in Freshman year." So we wouldn't kill ourselves by drinking. Note: When I was at PSU from 1997-2001, the local bars started to put big, permanent marker Xs on the hands of anyone celebrating their 21st birthday so they couldn't order 21 shots. And they had to do that because a girl who tried to do 21 shots on her 21st birthday had her life saved by the local hospital. Anyway.

See below:

Get it? Go Blue? Like PSU's battle cry? Anyone?

Here is a simpler version of the same thing, but just for the ladies:

So, you have to look up a thing along the top column and the first row and find your desired bit of information (BAL) in the table. Similarly, we use a t-table by looking up something in the top column and first row and finding the desired information. Dig it?

OH, SNAP!! You can use this with the William Gosset/Guinness Brewery stats lesson because Gosset created the first table.

Comments

Ways to use funny meme scales in your stats classes

Have you ever heard of the theory that there are multiple people worldwide thinking about the same novel thing at the same time? It is the multiple discovery hypothesis of invention . Like, multiple great minds around the world were working on calculus at the same time. Well, I think a bunch of super-duper psychology professors were all thinking about scale memes and pedagogy at the same time. Clearly, this is just as impressive as calculus. Who were some of these great minds? 1) Dr. Molly Metz maintains a curated list of hilarious "How you doing?" scales. 2) Dr. Esther Lindenström posted about using these scales as student check-ins. 3) I was working on a blog post about using such scales to teach the basics of variables. So, I decided to create a post about three ways to use these scales in your stats classes: 1) Teaching the basics of variables. 2) Nominal vs. ordinal scales. 3) Daily check-in with your students. 1. Teach your students the basics...

Using pulse rates to determine the scariest of scary movies

The Science of Scare project, conducted by MoneySuperMarket.com, recorded heart rates in participants watching fifty horror movies to determine the scariest of scary movies. Below is a screenshot of the original variables and data for 12 of the 50 movies provided by MoneySuperMarket.com: https://www.moneysupermarket.com/broadband/features/science-of-scare/ https://www.moneysupermarket.com/broadband/features/science-of-scare/ Here is my version of the data in Excel format . It includes the original data plus four additional columns (so you can run more analyses on the data): -Year of Release -Rotten Tomato rating -Does this movie have a sequel (yes or no)? -Is this movie a sequel (yes or no)? Here are some ways you could use this in class: 1. Correlation : Rotten Tomato rating does not correlate with the overall scare score ( r = 0.13, p = 0.36). 2. Within-subject research design : Baseline, average, and maximum heart rates are reported for each film. 3. ...

Andy Field's Statistics Hell

Andy Field is a psychologist, statistician, and author. He created a funny, Dante's Inferno-themed web site that contains everything you ever wanted to know about statistics. I know, I know, you're thinking, "Not another Dante's Inferno themed statistics web site!". But give this one a try. Property of Andy Field. I certainly can't take credit for this. Some highlights: 1) The aesthetic is priceless. For example, his intermediate statistics page begins with the introduction, "You will experience the bowel-evacuating effect of multiple regression, the bone-splintering power of ANOVA and the nose-hair pulling torment of factor analysis. Can you cope: I think not, mortal filth. Be warned, your brain will be placed in a jar of cerebral fluid and I will toy with it at my leisure." 2) It is all free. Including worksheets, data, etc. How amazing and generous. And, if you are feeling generous and feel the need to compensate him for the website, ...

Search This Blog