Statistical Information is All Around

Data is all around us, all the time.We live in a world where an understanding of statistics is critical.This understanding can help us make important decisions.We are especially apt to see statistical information in the media.Reports of scientific studies might be shared, or poll results might be presented.Graphical displays of data are also quite abundant; some of these displays make complex information easier to understand and digest, but others might be poorly designed and misleading.

This semester, we want to provide you with an opportunity to become more aware of the statistical information that is around you every day.For this discussion assignment, your task will be to find and work (write) about up toFIVEmedia report where statistics is being presented or used in some way.To receiveUP to 10 points of final exam extra credit(or 2 points per report), you will not only need to share each of these media reports, but you will need to work (write) about how the media reports relate to information you have learned about in Math 117.More details about what is required of this assignment and the way the assignment will be graded can be found below.There are also some tips about places you can go to find relevant materials to include in your post, and we share a sample entry.

Journal Requirements

Your journal should be typed and saved in either Word, Google Docs, or PDF format.You will submit the completed journal close to the end of the semester.

For each of your journal entries, you will need to include a minimum of three things to get full credit:

1. Give the title of the media report and the source for the report (i.e., where you found the report). Include a link to the media report or a copy of the actual media report.
2. Include a brief summary of the media report. Imagine that you are attempting to summarize this media report for a friend.
3. Discuss how the media report relates what you have learned in Math 117. For instance, the media report might provide a nice illustration of a concept you read about in your textbook, or it might relate to an idea or an example that was discussed in lecture.

There is no minimum or maximum word length expected for each journal entry.As long as you include all three elements listed above, you should receive full credit for your work.

Note that your final journal will need to be submittedno later than Saturday, June 26th.If you finish earlier than that date, or if you don't want to have to worry about meeting the deadline, please submit the completed journal at any time before then.

Finding Relevant Media Reports

There are many possible sources for good media reports.By "media report" we mean an article or graphical display that is in the newspaper or another news-related source.However, you can also share results from polls, or videos (if relevant), or blog posts that use statistical information.If you find something you would like to include in your discussion post but are uncertain if it is appropriate, please ask!I am happy to give you feedback and assistance at any point during this assignment.

The list below includes some good starting points.Note that, ideally, I'd like for your media reports to be current, but if you find older reports that you think are still relevant, that is fine.

• www.time.com
• (Links to an external site.)
• www.sciencedaily.com
• (Links to an external site.)
• www.gallup.com
• (Links to an external site.)
• www.psmag.com
• (Links to an external site.)
• www.foxnews.com
• (Links to an external site.)
• www.cnn.com
• (Links to an external site.)
• www.msnbc.com
• (Links to an external site.)
• www.nytimes.com
• (Links to an external site.)
• www.usatoday.com
• (Links to an external site.)
• www.newsweek.com
• (Links to an external site.)
• www.futurity.org
• (Links to an external site.)
• www.fivethirtyeight.com
• (Links to an external site.)
• www.npr.org
• (Links to an external site.)

Sample Journal Entry

Title: How to Tell Someone's Age When All You Know is Her Name

Source:FiveThirtyEight Blog (http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-to-tell-someones-age- when-all-you-know-is-her-name/

(Links to an external site.)

)

In this blog entry, the author discusses a way too determine the age of living Americans who have a particular name by looking at the Social Security Administration's baby name database and its actuarial tables.From this information, we can determine the number of children born in each year with a given name (since 1900) and how many of these children are still alive today.This will allow us to determine a median age for these individuals.As an illustration, there is a nice graphic within the article showing how the number of boys named Joseph has changed over time, and from the graph, we can determine the median living Joseph is about 37 years old.This is contrasted with a graphic of the name Brittany; the median living Brittany is about 23 years old.This is likely because Brittany was not a common name until the early 1970s (becoming more popular in the 80s). The blog entry goes on to share lots of interesting data about the youngest and oldest male and female names.

One thing I immediately recognized from Math 117 was a discussion in the blog post about the interquartile range.In Math 117, we learned about this when we studied measures of variability and boxplots (Chapter 2). We learned the distance between Q1 and Q3 (or the first and third quartiles) is called the interquartile range, and we can see this represented as a box in a boxplot.The blog post discussed the interquartile range and gave a nice concrete illustration by saying:"The median living Joseph is 37 years old, and the interquartile range (that is, the range spanning the 25ththrough 75thpercentiles) runs from 21 to 56. In other words, a quarter of living Josephs are older than 56 and a quarter are younger than 21; the rest are somewhere in between. Not very helpful."