Created by Kevin Clay Priceless. More from Kevin Clay  here Aside: I am so, so pleased to now have Snoop Dogg as a label for my blog.

I like the following examples because they are accessible, potentially life-saving, and demonstrate statistics that disprove convention (and saves lives!), and provide a good argument for program evaluation. For decades, prevailing wisdom stated that we should put babies to sleep on their stomachs so that they wouldn't choke on their own spit-up in their sleep. Then, lo-and-behold, data suggested that putting babies to sleep on their back reduced deaths due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). BY HALF. Data disproved convention AND improved public health dramatically and cheaply as the American Academy of Pediatrics rolled out the Back To Sleep campaign to inform parents about this research and best practices for bedtime. Now, the law of unintended consequences: Wee little babies are developing flat heads! My own son did (he is the cutie in the helmet), and required a helmet and physical therapy to correct the condition. More on the flat head (technical name: plagioenc...

This isn't the first time this issue has been broached. However, this time, it has an awesome graphic to summarize the issue. The io9 article also has links to various citations regarding the issue. Here is an accessible, short reading on the same topic writting by Sharon Begley.

Hey, nerds- Here is a PPT that I use to review t-tests with my students.  All of the examples are rooted in The Hunger Games. My students get a kick out of it and this particular presentation (along with my Harry Potter themed ANOVA review) is oft-cited as an answer to the question "What did you like the most about this class?" in my end of the semester reviews. Essentially, I have found various psychological scales, applied them to THG, and present my students with "data" from the characters. For example, the students perform a one-sample t-test comparing Machvellianism in Capital leadership versus Rebellion leadership (in keeping with the final book of the series, the difference between the two groups is non-significant). So, as a psychologist, I can introduce my students to various psychological concepts in addition to review t-tests. Note: I teach in a computer lab using SPSS, which would be a necessity for using exercises. Caveat: I would recommend usi...

According to this data from the National Weather Service , lightning is a big, man-hating jerk!   From NWS/NOAA   And Might Thor lives to be your weekend's buzz kill! Or not. Play "Spot the Third Variable" with your students.

I guess "The Longevity Game" sounds better than The Death Calculator. Which is what Northwestern Mutual has created and shared with us. Essentially, you answer questions about yourself (weight, exercise, stress management, driving habits, drug and alcohol habits, etc.) and the Game will give you an estimation for how long you should live based on the data you provide. The Longevity Game, from Northwestern Mutual I use this in class to demonstrate how data and statistics influence certain aspects of our lives (like whether or not an insurer is willing to provide us with insurance coverage). This can also be used to introduce multiple regression, since multiple factors are taken into account when predicting the outcome measure of life expectancy. I also make sure to emphasize to my students that this calculator was created by an insurance company that was founded in 1857 and that this calculator isn't just some random interwebz quiz. Warning: I wouldn't ask...

NOTE: I'm not entirely certain about the origin of this graph, so I apologize if my citation isn't correct. The earliest version I could find was on imgur from user r/skeptic (yes, associated with the Skeptic subreddit). from  http://imgur.com/1WZ6h I think the illustration above  is a good way of a) demonstrating that correlation does not equal causation and b) sticking it to anti-vaxers who use a lot of correlational data (see below) to back up their theories about why rates of Autism have been increasing. From safeminds.org

The Colbert Report's take on Kyle Copland's research studying whether or not gun ownership lowers crimes. Copland's method? Handing out free .22s in high crime areas (to folks that pass a background check and take a gun safety course). from ColbertNation.com This applies more to a research methods class (Colbert expresses a need for a control group in Copland's research. His suggestion? Sugar guns as well as a second experimental condition in which EVERYONE is given a gun). However, I imagine that you could show your students this video and pause it before they introduce the research project and ask your students how we could finally answer this question of whether or not gun ownership lowers crimes. Thanks to Chelsea for pointing this out!

University of Cambridge's Psychometric Center has used statistics to make make personality predictions based upon an individual's Facebook "likes" . For instance, your likes can be used to create your Big Five personality trait profile. Your students can have their data FB "likes" analyzed at YouAreWhatYouLike.com  as to determine their Big Five traits. After your students complete the FB version of the scale, you could have your students complete a more traditional paper and pencil version of the inventory and discuss differences/similarities/concurrent validity between the two measures. Below, I've included a screen grab of my FB-derived Big Five rating from YouAreWhatYouLike.com. Note: Yes, that is how I score on more traditional versions of the same scale. Generated at YouAreWhatYouLike.com In addition to Big Five prediction, the researchers also used the "like" data to make predictions of other qualities, like sexual orientatio...

Hofstede is a psychology rockstar who studies multiculturalism (specifically, how his cultural dimensions vary from country to country and how this can impact organizations). This page generates bar graphs that illustrate how the two countries you specify vary on his dimensions. Below is a screen grab of the U.S. compared to Brazil along his dimensions. Note: If this all sounds vaguely familiar, it may be because you read Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers and he discusses Power Distance in the context of the Korean Air safety issues. How could you use this in the classroom? 1) This could be a quick example of the importance of multicultural research (as the Western view of the world/attitudes are not the default setting for humans).  2) A quick way of demonstrating bar graphs. 3) A good example of applied social psychology.  From geert-hofstede.com

Want a good way to waste time when you should be prepping for the semester ahead?  Go generate some stats/research methods memes.  If you are feeling extra generous, please feel free to send them to me so I can share them with the group. Created at memegenerator.co by Jess Hartnett Created at memegenerator.co by Jess Hartnett

Best. Awful. Headline. Ever. T his headline makes it sound like many young women support the sexting, bad-decision-making, former NY representative Anthony Weiner. However, if one takes a moment to read the article, one will learn that the "young women" sampled were recruited from SeekingArrangement.com. A website for women looking for sugar daddies. If you want your brain to further explode, read through the comments section for the article. Everyone is reacting to the headline. Very few people actually read through the article themselves...which provides further anecdotal evidence that most folks can't tell good data from bad (and that part of our job as statistics instructors, in my opinion, is to ameliorate this problem).