The Waffle House Index, a great example for creative measurement methods.

Alright, this example is a little more abstract, but stick with me.

When you perform statistics, you are measuring or counting something. And sometimes the thing you want to measure is pretty straightforward. The number of sick days an employee takes. GPA. Parts per million of some thingy in the water.

But sometimes statisticians, especially psychologists, have to get a little creative and indirect with the way we measure a thing. Like the MMPI. IQ tests are our best bet at encompassing someone's intelligence but are still not perfect.

Sometimes, a statistician needs to find an approximation or proxy for the actual thing they are measuring. To explain this, show your students how the Federal Emergency Management Agency uses the Waffle House Index to determine how severely damaged a town is following a hurricane or tornado.

http://www2.philly.com/philly/news/weather/hurricane-florence-waffle-house-index-20180912.html

If you are one of the uninitiated, Waffle Houses are an American chain restaurant. They are ubiquitous throughout the Southern United States (see a map of locations below).

https://locations.wafflehouse.com/

Because 1) they are ubiquitous AND 2) pride themselves on being open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, no matter what, AND 3) the chain is located in a portion of the US prone to hurricanes and tornadoes, Waffle Houses, and whether or not they are open, are a great proxy for determining just how devastated an area is after an extreme weather event.

The origins of the WHI are delved into by the Economist here. And here is information from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

How to use it in class:
-Again, when we are trying to come up with a good way to measure a thing, sometimes we need a proxy measurement.
-You can also use this as a conceptual example of using regression to make a prediction and NOT assuming causality. The government PREDICTS damage using the WHI but doesn't think Waffle House is the cause for the damage.

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