This is a fine example of using misleading statistics to try and make an argument. USA Today tweeted out this graphic , related to some data that was collected by some firm. There appear to be a number of method issues with this data, so a number of ways to use this in your class: 1) False Dichotomy:  Survey response options should be mutually exclusive. I think there are two types of muddled dichotomies with this data: a) What is "essential"? When my kids were younger, I had an online subscription for diapers. Those were absolutely essential and I received a discount on my order since it was a subscription. However, according to this survey dichotomy, are they an indulgence since they were a subscription that originated online. b) Many purchases fall into multiple categories. Did the survey creators "double-dip" as to pad each mean and push the data towards it's $18K conclusion? Were participants clear that "drinks out with frien...

You know how every few months, someone Tweets about stock photos that are generated when you Google "professor"? And those photos mainly depict white dudes? See below. Say "hi" to Former President and former law school professor Obama, coming it at #10, several slots after "novelty kid professor in lab coat". Well, Pew Research decided to quantify this perennial Tweet, and expand it far beyond academia. They used Machine Learning to search through over 10K images depicting 105 occupations and test whether or not the images showed gender bias.  How you can use this research in your RM class: 1. There are multiple ways to quantify and operationalize your variables . There are different ways to measure phenomena. If you read through the report, you will learn that Pew both a) compared actual gender ratios to the gender ratios they found in the pictures and b) counted how long it took until a search result returned the picture of a woman for a given j...

Question-wording matters, friends! This example shows how question order and question-wording can affect participant response. This is a good example for all of your research methods and psychometrics students to chew on. Pew Research asked people if they believed in evolution . They did so in three different ways, which lead to three different response patterns. 1) Prior to asking about evolution, the asked whether or not the participant believes in God. 2) Asked participants if they believed in evolution. If they said "yes", they asked the participant whether or not they believe that a higher power guides evolution. 3) They asked participants if they believed in evolution and gave participants three response options:     a) Don't believe in evolution.     b) Believe in evolution due to natural selection.     c) Believe in evolution guided by a higher power. Responses to Option 1: Responses to Options 2. and 3. Oh, the classroom discus...