I have found plenty of class inspiration on Reddit. Various subs have provided a  new way to explain mode   and median  and great, intuitive data to teach  correlation . However, much as a reverse-coded item on a scale can be used to get to the opposite of what you are asking about, r/DataIsUgly is rife with examples of how NOT to do data as to teach how to create good data visualizations. Very recently, I shared this example from r/DataIsUgly to illustrate why NOT to truncate the Y axis .  And...this sub is filled with people like us. People who love to proofread and notice data crimes. For example: How to use it in class? Can your students figure out why these data visualizations are...less than optimal? Can they fix them? They could be a fun prompt for extra credit points or a discussion board.

Google will let you make a GIF of your data. I made this GIF using YouGov data. So far, it lets you make four different kinds of GIFs. This is a small tool, but it is an excellent alternative/supplement when you are teaching students how to present their data in a PowerPoint. It isn't very show, which is the point, I think. You wouldn't want to be distracted from your data, but it adds some motion. ALSO: I personally love GIFS. 

  The unstoppable pop of Taylor Swift (reuters.com) Here are some ideas for using this to teach statistics: Data visualizations and visualization guides: With cats, y'all. And the Taylor Swift handwriting font. I love the whole vibe of this as well as how they explain their data visualizations. Operationalizing things: The page describes three Spotify metrics for music: Acousticness, danceability, and emotion. The data visualization contains a numeric value for each metric and a description of the metric's meaning. DATA!: Okay. This is an excellent example of things already. And it is delightful. Then I thought, "Oh, wouldn't it be fun if this was in spreadsheet form!" (I think that A LOT, friends). But, as I write a book and my syllabi, I don't have time for that,  BUT A REDDITOR DID HAVE TIME FOR THAT . Dr. Doon created a spreadsheet with 18 columns of Spotify data for each son. It doesn't include the Midnights data but is still a fantastic amount of dat...

It shouldn't come as a shock that the CDC shares data on rates of public health issues in the US.  However, you may be unaware of the available data and interactive visualizations provided by the CDC and the different ways you can use them in class . 1. Teach your students a lesson about good sources for mental health data. 2. Show your students how data visualizations can help present and simplify complex data. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/mental-health.htm 3. Get into the research methods. Everyone has heard of the census, but fewer have heard of the Household Pulse Survey (https://www.census.gov/data/experimental-data-products/household-pulse-survey.html). The US Census collects much information between the 10-year census, including mental health data. https://www.census.gov/data/experimental-data-products/household-pulse-survey.html 4. Talk about how the government assesses depression and anxiety. For example, you can show how the basic methodology uses a valid, relia...

Stats nerds: I'm warning your right now. This website is a rabbit hole for us, what with the interactive, customizable data visualizations. Please don't click on the links below if you need to grade or be with your kids or drive.  At a recent conference presentation, I was asked where non-Americans can find examples like the ones I share on my blog. I had a few ideas (data analytic firms located in other countries, data collected by the government), but wanted more from my answer.  BUT...I recently discovered this interactive from Our World in Data. It visualizes international data on human height, y'all  with so many different examples throughout. I know height data isn't the sexiest data, but your students can follow these examples, they can be used in a variety of different lessons, and you can download all of the data from the beautiful interactive charts. 1. Regressions can't predict forever. Trends plateau.  I'm using this graph to as an example of how a r...

A few weeks ago, I posted about how you can share data in such a terrible way that one is not breaking the law, but the data is completely unusable. This makes me think of all the times I am irked when someone states a problem but doesn't offer a solution to the problem. Instead, they just talk about what is wrong and not how it could be. So, as a counter piece, let's cheer on organizations that ARE sharing data in a way that is readily accessible. You could use this in class as a palate cleanser if you teach your students about data obfuscation. You could also use it as a way of helping your students understand how data really is everywhere. Or even challenge them to brainstorm an app that uses readily accessible data in a new way to help folks.  Pro-Publica This website lets you check how often salmonella is found at different chicken processing plants. All you need to do is enter the p-number, company, or location listed on your package of chicken: https://projects.propubli...

 My favorite examples of bad data visualizations are the ones that use accurate data that was actually collected through seemingly ethical means but totally malign the data. The numbers are correct, the data viz is...not very truthy ( I'm looking at you, Florida. ) Especially when you mess up the data viz in a way that appears to be deliberate AND doesn't really strengthen your point. I'm also looking at you, The White House. Here is a story of a deliberate but pointless massaging of a y-axis. A story in Three Tweets. 1. The Biden Administration is doing a good job of encouraging economic growth, right? Take a gander at this bar graph. 2021 was a success...just look at the chart.  2. BUT WAIT. What's this? That y-axis is shady. I...just can't think of any software/glitch that could make this mistake by accident. ALSO: If you like Twitter, follow Graph Crimes.  3. The White House issues a correction featuring a pretty good data put, I would say.  FIN

This blog post was inspired by the brilliant Leslie Berntsen. Her ACT 2021 presentation,  " I'm not a therapist: Mental health education and advocacy for non-clinicians," was about teaching and sharing sound practices in mental health care when you, yourself, are not a mental-health-care-type-psychologist.  Anyway, she had this really great idea about sharing user/trends/etc. data from the Crisis Text Line  (CTL) with students. CTL is a text-based mental health crisis hotline. It is staffed 24/7. I include it on my syllabus as a resource for my struggling students because, unlike my uni's very hard-working counseling center, CTL is always available.  https://www.crisistextline.org/ Why share data from CTL in your stats class? Because you can use it to a) teach a bit of stats, b) introduce students who need this resource to the resource, c) introduce potential volunteers to the service. Here are my ideas for how you could use this data in class. 1. Data visuali...

I've blogged about Our World in Data before. There is a lot to appreciate at this webiste, but I would like to draw your attention to the wealth of interactive COVID visualizations you can create. Many of these visualizations include a toggle button that changes the graph from a logarithmic graph to a linear graph. Which really, really helps illustrate log data transformations to our novice statisticians. There have been occasional dust-ups over the last year with people not understanding the difference  or  being unfamiliar with log transformations , or graphs not being appropriately labeled.  I also like this example because most of my examples skew towards American content, but this data visualization tool lets you select from many countries .  ANDPLUSALSO: There is data to be had at the website. Data for days!

Have you ever looked through stock images for data and statistics? They are fine. They aren't great, they aren't awful, they are just fine. Like, they either look like something from The Matrix: Or like statisticians are magicians: Some images are a combination of the first two, with a statistician-magician freeing himself from The Matrix: Again, they aren't terrible but they aren't beautiful.  Lucky for you, I'm a magpie collecting interesting statistical things, including interesting statistics/data images accompanying news stories. Many talented artists have created beautiful, abstract stats images to accompany their articles. They look very nice as a background on a PowerPoint, an opening page on Blackboard, or an image on a syllabus. Here are some of my favorites. I've included citations or where I found the images where I can and plan to reverse Google search the rest someday. Needless to say, I created none of this.  https://twitter.com/RetractionWatch/st...