Depressed Dads

1. The study was done by researchers from the University of Michigan.
2. In the article, there is no evidence of who sponsored the research. In the full online report of the study in the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, the authors have said that there is no financial relationship relevant to this study to disclose.
3. There is the possibility that the sponsor of this study could have an interest in finding this particular result: “more than 40 percent of depressed fathers spanked their children, compared with 13 percent of fathers who weren't depressed.” The results could easily lead to an increase in job in fields related to depression, family care, health care and violence.
4. The methodology used by the researchers was to collect data from “1,746 new fathers in 20 cities”. However, it does not include information such as how the 20 cities were chosen, how the 1, 746 fathers were selected, when was the survey done, and the questions asked to the fathers.
5. The study’s results are not communicated very well in the article as the main focus of the article is to show that researchers are calling attention to depressed fathers. However, the use of percentages helps to understand the information a little bit more.
6. There were no graphs, but it would have been really beneficial to use such a visual aid.

References:

Author: Tara Parker-Pope

Article title: Time to Focus on Sad Dads

Publication Title: The New York Times

Date: Thursday, March 31, 2011

Link: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/time-to-focus-on-sad-dads/

External Resources:

Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics: http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/reprint/peds.2010-1779v1

Changing Trends of Cancer diagnoses

1. The data presented within this article was gathered by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the Center for Disease Control (CDC), and the American Association of American Cancer Registries (AAACR). The data related to mortality rates was provided by the National Center for Health Statistics. 2. The sponsor of this research was not explicitly stated in the article however it based on data received and analyzed each year. The compilation of this data is a group effort by the NCI, CDC, NAACR, and the American Cancer Society. The primary source of this data is the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. 3. I believe that the sponsor of this study does not have a particular result that they are trying to find that might create a bias within the data. Rather, I think that the sponsor of this research is more interested in analyzing the changes in cases of cancer incidents. The article mentions the changing trends and the decrease in cases of certain types of cancers while noting the increase in other types of data. 4. The research analyzes incidence data ranging from 1992 through 2007. Also, from the number of American medical organizations listed who collaborated on this project, i would guess that the data is a collection of cases within the United States of America, and does not include a global-wide research study, however the report does not state that assumption. 5. The results are communicated in an informative manner. However this article is a selction of the data composed in the primary source document who's title is "Annual report to the nation on the status of cancer, 1975-2007, featuring tumors of the brain and other nervous system." Thus the author of this article chose certain pieces of information to expose within his article. The title of this smaller secondary source article labels lung cancer. Thus I think that the author wants to target readers who have particular interest in lung cancer rates, particularly since lung cancer is one of the more popular forms of cancer, and thus will bring in a larger body of readers to his own internet article. In conclusion, i think that the information presented in the articel was not compiled from a biased research but i do think that the author of this article reporting on the research study presented in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute had a bias when when deciding how to taret his audience. 6. There are no graphs used in the report of this data. Reference details: Author: Charles Bankhead, staff writer Article Title: Cancer Incidence, Deaths Down, Report Shows Publication Title: MedPage Today Date: March 31, 2011 Link: http://www.medpagetoday.com/Oncology/OtherCancers/25658

Lung Cancer Deaths In Women Decline

1. The data was assembled through a group effort by the National Cancer Institute, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the North American Association of Central Cancer Registries and the American Cancer Society.

2. The report was sponsored by the government.

3. I doubt that the government would be particularly interested in skewing the results of the data however findings that point to a decrease in cancer and cancer related deaths over time may shed a better light on the government and the institutions involved. On the other hand negative findings or an increase in cancer would probably increase public interest and investment for the institutes.

4. There is not a lot of information given by the Tribune article on the specifics of the study however it is clear that it includes both men and women and the data is compiled from at least 40 years of information which came from the Center for Disease Control’s National Center for Health Statistics. Also included is a link to the official report by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute which probably has a fuller description of the methodology and findings.

5. The complete results of the study are not given in a clear manner. The focus of the article was a decrease in lung cancer deaths in women but there was no information on how much the decline was or if contracting lung cancer was also in decline. The other findings of the study were represented in an informative way however overall the article took a positive spin on the findings when there were plenty of negative findings as well. This article would probably be alright for readers interested in the very basic information but not for more details.

6. There were no graphs included

Maugh II, Tomas H. “Lung Cancer Deaths in Women Decline for the First Time in 40 Years.” Chicago Tribune. March 31, 2011. http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/la-heb-cancer-death-rates-03312011,0,1525750.story

phone security

Blog assignment #1

1 & 2 YouGov does the survey on behalf of SecurEnvoy.

3 The survey shows that only a third of mobile phone owners would realize they had lost their phone within 15 minutes. The sponsors of this study have an interest in this result, as SecurEnvoy makes products of protecting data on smartphones. With this survey, probably more people will consider that it is necessary to buy “some form of data encryption and secure authentication for their phone”. Besides, it will let more people know about SecurEnvoy, which is a special way of advertisement. Before reading this article, I have no idea about the company. Besides, it shows to the reader how much the product can do for the customers and the dangerous without having this product.

4 The sample is made by 2,000 mobile phone owners (men, women, young and old). But it didn’t mention how they choose these participants. And it doesn’t mention how many men, women, young or old are in this survey. In the middle of the article, it shows that the reaction between men and women and the reaction between young and old will act differently in the survey. So if more than half of the participants here are women, the result has been exaggerated. If not, the situation is much worse than what is shown in this research. The research has the same problem with young and old. If the survey could use the same amount of each group, the result will have more persuasion.

5 & 6 No graphs are used in this article. However, this article uses clearly data to show the result. Such as “Men are more likely to notice their mobile phone missing in less than 15 minutes than women--40 percent of men compared to 29 percent of women.” Furthermore, they make the reasonable hypothesis to explain the collected data. The survey does the same analysis with young and old. As the article mentions about the percentage during the comparison, I suppose the pie chart will give an intuitive impression in this situation.

Reference,

Auther: Tony Bradley

Article title: “Would You Realize If You Lost Your Smartphone?”

Publish title: http://www.pcworld.com/

Publish date: March 30, 2011 11:29pm

Link:http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/223844/would_you_realize_if_you_lost_your_smartphone.html

Hotel occupancies at highest level in three years

Blog Assignment #1

The rates of hotel occupancies in Thailand’s major tourist cities reached its high in three years throughout January to April (reservations) of this years. Political Turmoil and violence in the past few years scared tourists away. The easing of political conflict combined with the hotels’ previously decreased prices in response to lower demand attracted much higher tourist attraction this year.

1. Thai Hotel Associations (THA)

2. Probably Prakit Chinamourphong, the president of THA

3. The results of this research would benefit his organization

4. The sample group contains all hotels in Thailand’s biggest tourist cities: Pattaya, Phuket, Bangkok, Chiang Mai

5. Yes, the percentage increases in hotel occupancy from the same period last year shows a clear point.

6. There are no graphs in this article.

Author: Chadamas Chinmaneevong

Article Title: Hotel occupancies at highest level in three years

Publication Title: Bangkok Post

Date: March 30^th, 2011

Link: http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/tourism/229287/hotel-occupancies-at-highest-level-in-three-years

County Health Rankings

Article Information
Author - Molly Hennessy-Fiske
Title - Marin County named healthiest in California in new study; L.A. County ranks 26th
Publication title - Los Angeles Times
Date - March 30, 2011
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2011/03/marin-county-named-healthiest-in-california-in-new-study.html

Questions about the article
1 & 2) The study was conducted and sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.

3) No because the study was done nationwide by collecting data based on several different health factors in every county in the United States. The only possible bias could be the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute trying to promote the health of its home state, Wisconsin.

4) The approach of the experiment was to examine two factors - the mortality (length of life) and the morbidity (quality of health during life). The health factors and programs and policies were broken down into four categories - Health behaviors, Clinical care, Social and economic factors, and the Physical environment. Health behaviors included tobacco use, diet & exercise, alcohol use, and unsafe sex. Clinical care was based on the access to care and the quality of the care. The social and economic factors were education, employment, income, family & social support, and community safety. The two factors regarding physical environment were environmental quality and the built environment. Data was collected by polling a certain number of people from each county and percentages and numbers were calculated based on the results from the polls. Unfortunately, no data was given regarding the backgrounds of the people polled like age, sex, or income.

5) Yes, each of the four categories (health behaviors, clinical care, social and economic factor, and physical environment) were broken down in a way that was both logical and easily understandable. By analyzing the numbers and figures of the data, the surveyors were able to rank the counties in every US state based on how healthy the population was.

6) No graphs were used.

Just Look at This Place. What’s Not to Love?

The survey was carried out by the U. S Census Bureau which was sponsored by the U.S government.
New York is the "the city of the Yankees and Broadway, of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, of sky-high buildings and never-ending parks." There are more than enough attractions to draw people towards the city. As a result, the Census Bureau was expecting a significant population increase in such a city after a decade since the last population census.
Almost all New york inhabitants were issued census surveys even though 63% returned the survey to the Bureau. The information is clearly communicated with previous census and predicted values provided to enhance the conclusion drawn in the census.
A line graph was used to represent the estimated and actual population values of New York since 2000. The graph depict that the gap between the estimated and actual values has been widening since 2000 with estimates being higher than the actual values. The graph clearly informs the reader on the population census of New York.

Article Title: New York City's Slow Growth Undercuts Its Image
Publication Title: Just Look at This Place. What's Not to Love?
Hernandez, Javier C. New York Times - New York City's Slow Growth Undercuts Its Image. 30 3 2011. 31 3 2011
.

Misfits in American Mobile Etiquette

1&2. The study is done and sponsored by Ipsos on behalf of Intel, a leading cooperation in computing innovation.

3. Intel was interested in this finding since the cooperation does not only focus on the advancement of technological devices but also on education and community. The result, though not favorable to Intel as it shows that mobile etiquette is getting worse, demonstrates the cooperation's commitment and responsibility for social development. Furthermore, consumers would have a higher regard for organizations that develop technology responsibly rather than frantically.

4. Methodology: an online survey of mobile etiquette was conducted among a sample of 2,000 US adults from 18 years old and older.
Survey time: Dec 10, 2010 to Jan 5, 2011

5&6. The finding was presented clearly in percentage (with margin error of +/- 2.2%) for various groups of items like mobile misfits in public and public displays of technology. For example: 65% reported talking on a device loudly in public places; 1 in 5 adults admits that they have poor mobile etiquette but keep doing so since everyone is behaving the same way.
There are no charts or graphs used in the report.

--------
The full fact sheet report can be found at
http://newsroom.intel.com/docs/DOC-1883 (click on Fact sheet: 2011 state of mobile etiquette)
The related article can be found at http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/02/25/134059054/survey-says-we-r-rude-how-about-u
Title: Survey Says We R Rude; How About U?
Author: Mark Memmott
Published on Feb 25, 2011

China's Rise in Scientific Publication

1. The study was conducted by the Royal Society, Britain's national scientific academy.

2. Elsevier provided financial support and full access to their publication databases and analytical services throughout the study. This information was not included in the article, but could be found within the Royal Society's published report, Knowledge, Networks and Nations: Global scientific collaboration in the 21st century, which is referenced in the article.

3. The results of this study indicate a shift in dominance over scientific publication (this particular article specifically focuses on China's increase and the United States' and United Kingdoms' decreases in shares of publications). The decrease in shares that these findings illustrate could encourage support for more international research efforts and more funding for scientific research in general (and thus encourage a drive towards producing more scientific publications). Within their official published report of the study, the Royal Society recommended that “support for international science should be maintained and strengthened.” These results would thus appear to be very beneficial for Elsevier, a leading publisher of scientific information.

4. Only a small amount of information on methodology was included in the article, specifically referring to how countries were ranked on the quality of their scientific publications. The article stated that the Royal Society measured how often each country's scientific papers were cited by other researchers and that this was a “means of evaluating the quality of publications.”

5. The general results of the study were communicated in a fairly straightforward manner but it could have been helpful to include visual representation through graphs or charts in the article. There were also some instances where the comparative statistics could have been communicated more clearly in the article: “The United States was in first place in both time periods, but its share of publications dropped from more than one in four to about one in five. The United Kingdom held steady in third place, but its share dropped from 7.1% to 6.5%..." The article compares the two countries clearly on the basis of rank (first place for the U.S. and third place for the United Kingdom), but communicates the actual share of publications differently for each country (using percentages for the United Kingdom and ratios for the United States).

A table such as this (from the The Telegraph) seems to clearly communicate the same results in a better fashion: http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01859/2903-China-science_1859063f.jpg. In this table one can directly see the rankings of each country and their respective shares of publications.

6. No graphs were used in the article.

---

Article Title: China shoots up rankings as science power, study finds
Author: Richard Allen Greene
Source: CNN
Date of Publication: March 29, 2011
Link: http://articles.cnn.com/2011-03-29/world/china.world.science_1_china-output-papers?_s=PM:WORLD
--
Report used in the article: Knowledge, Networks and Nations: Global scientific collaboration in the 21^st century
Link: http://royalsociety.org/uploadedFiles/Royal_Society_Content/Influencing_Policy/Reports/2011-03-28-Knowledge-networks-nations.pdf

Ultimate is the Fastest Growing Team Sport- Ian Powell

1. 1. The Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association (SGMA) reported recently that Ultimate is the fastest growing team sport in America in their Sports and Fitness Participation Report.

2. 2. It is undisclosed who sponsored the research, but it was reported in Ultimate: Official Magazine of USA Ultimate. It costs forty dollars to read the report online which could lock poor students out of reporting accurate statistic information.

3. 3.The sponsor of this information could easily be advertisers like Nike or Adidas, who would be looking to find the next big boom in the sporting world. By learning what is becoming popular, companies can tailor their product lines to growing sports

4. 4..There is no mention of the methodology used to determine what makes Ultimate the fastest growing sport. Instead, it is used as a rallying cry to continue the growth of the sport.

5. 5. The results are communicated in a clear manner, but the methodology as mentioned before was not.

6. 6.There are no graphs.

ThThis was reported in Ultimate: Official Magazine of USA Ultimate, by www.fiveultimate.com, published Winter 2010. No Author mentioned.

Ford has more repeat buyers than other brands

1 & 2. The study was done and sponsored by the Polk automative research firm. 3. The Polk automative research firm is interested in finding out what's occurring in the auto world, so I can't see a reason for them them to only look for a specific result. 4. Yes for the methodology Polk says "The results reflect choices among 5.2 million new-vehicle- buying households during the 2010 calender year." 5. Yes, the results are given in a very clear and effective manner. It's very easy to figure out which companies have their customers coming back and which companies are losing loyalty from their customers. 6. There wasnt a graph. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/money_co/2011/03/ford-has-more-repeat-buyers-than-other-brands-.html

Facebook Takes Over the World

1. The statistics shown on a blog by Ken Burbary, were given by facebook.com and pingdom.com. The blog is called Web Business, and Burbary wrote a blog about the same time a year ago about the uses and amount of usage of Facebook, and in this blog he updated his statistics and gave new ones to provide people with a better understanding of what is going on.

2. All of the research and statistics are provided by Facebook, however Burbary analyzes the data.

3. The sponsor, facebook, could have interest partly because so many people worldwide use facebook as a primary means of communication. Their interest would be to appeal to businesses looking for ad space as a large amount of people would be able to see the adds on facebooks site.

4. Because this was a study and not a survey, a random sample was not used however some of the statistics reveal the sample size, in this case the amount of facebook users.

5 & 6. Yes the results are presented in a manner that would entail people to look at. Graphs and data are the main source of results for this study and are used throughout the blog. As Burbary reveals some of the results, he clearly analyses the data in a user friendly form for people following his blog.

Is College Overrated?

1. The study from the article was conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
2. The US government sponsored the study.
3. It is possible that the US government might have an interest in findings relating to the increase in education levels and more high school students moving on to college degrees, despite this study seeming to depict the opposite.
4. There is no clear evidence of the methodology that was used for the study.
5. The results are communicated clearly, however there isn't much detail given into the study itself, rather the study is used simply as supporting evidence.
6. There are no graphs or visuals used to present the results of the study.

Article References
Author - David Leonhardt, Article Title - "Is College Overrated? (Cont.)", Publication Title - The New York Times, Date - May 18, 2010, Link - http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/is-college-overrated-cont/

Anthrax Prevention

Statistical Study Estimates How Many Anthrax Cases Were Prevented
Tyler Benmark

1. Ron Brookmeyer and Natalie Blades of Johns Hopkins University performed the experiment.

2. The sponsorship of the research was from numerous public health officials. The specific details were disclosed.

3. However, public health officials “had recommended that approximately 10,000 potentially exposed people undergo a 60-day regimen of antimicrobial prophylaxis” earlier this year. So, with this definite study, these same officials can now make their argument more concrete. The study proved that a certain treatment offered actually did help patients suffering from the symptoms of anthrax exposure.

4. The methodology was not included on the site. Also, neither was a link to the actually numbers of the study. I was surprised at this especially because the article was published in Scientific American. It made me search in other places for different information. However, the only information I could find was the researchers’ names. Although, this is not enough to actually see the methodology, the researchers come from a respectable college.
   

5. While the methodology was not clear, the results were also skeptical. The author explains, “their analysis clearly shows that the antibiotics saved lives.” But the author does not show specific results. Still though, the results were presented in a clear distinct way.
   

6. In this study, there were no graphs or visual forms of information presented.

Assignment #1 Alex Arnold

1. State of California held the study.

2. Sponsored by the state of California.

3. The sponsor of the study would hope for results that were the opposite of what they found, or at least far from the results they found.

4. The sample size was the entire state of California who attended high school between 2006 and 2010. Each student was originally assigned a tracking number by the state when they began high school.

5. The results were very clear. They stated clearly the percentage of students who dropped out in the entire state, as well as solely Los Angeles. It also stated the percentage of students who graduated as well as the percentage of students who were neither graduates or drop outs.

6. The results were not presented in graphical form, but only numerically.

Mitchell Landsberg

"1 in 4 quit high school in California"

Times Staff Writers

July 17, 2008

http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jul/17/local/me-dropout17

Unawareness of the term Palliative Care

1. This survey in this article was conducted by Financial Dynamics (FD). The interviews were conducted via phone from December 16-17 & 19, 2010.

2. The sponsor of this research was The Regence Foundation and The National Journal.

3. The sponsor of this study, specifically The Regence Foundation would have an interest in finding a result because they are one of the largest health insurers and were most likely interested in knowing if people were in understanding about the purpose for Palliative Care. They were probably looking to find if they needed to further inform the public on the term Palliative Care because of its increase in hospitals.

4. Some methodology on the survey was stated, however it didn't specifically say if it was a random sample or not. However it stated that the sample size was 1,000 adults ages 18+ and was done nationally.

5. The results are communicated and presented clearly, by stating the survey findings in a qualitative manner. The number of people familiar with Palliative Care is only a portion of the overall survey and only states the percentage of people unaware of this term. The results of the survey are broken down into a few categories with different findings under each; Palliative Care falling under the headline "Americans believe palliative care should be a top priority in health care".

6. There are no graphs or visual forms of data used in presenting the results of this survey.

Article References

Author- Michelle Andrews

Article Title- "Hospitals increasingly offer palliative care"

Publication Title- The Washington Post

Date- Monday, March 28th, 2011

Links-

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/hospitals-increasingly-offer-palliative-care/2011/03/24/AFuFAeqB_story.html

http://syndication.nationaljournal.com/communications/NationalJournalRegenceToplines.pdf

http://www.regencefoundation.org/media/release/03082011acqq.html

Global Spending Study

1. In the study, "How We Spend Money--China, India, Russia, Egypt, Brazil and the US", the Credit Suisse Emerging Consumer Survey and the Bureau of Labor Statistics did the surveys. 2. The US goverment sponsored the research conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics but the article doesn't disclose the Credit Suisse Emerging Consumer Survey's sponsor. 3. The goverment might be interested in comparing US consumers spending with other countries. 4. The results are communicated in a clear informative manner by the explanations of the charts. 5. The Methodology is not included. 6. The graphs are used in a clear informative manner because it compares the different types of consumers spending on a bar chart, where it shows percentages of each country's expenses. Reference: Thompson, Derek. "How We Spend Money--China, India, Russia,Egypt, Brazil and the US." The Atlantic 25 Mar. 201: 1-3 Web. <http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/03/how-we-spend-money-china-india-russia-egypt-brazil-and-the-us/73001/>.

Jim Tressel Assignment #1

Cate Oldfather

Blog Assignment 1

3/30/11

NCAA should discipline Jim Tressel, because his employer won’t

Written by: Trace Hamilton on March 30^th, 2011 in the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/ncaa-should-discipline-jim-tressel-because-his-employer-wont/2011/03/30/AFAMIy3B_story.html)

The Quinnipiac University Polling Institute posted this survey in the Washington Post. It was surveying Ohio voters on whether or not Jim Tressel, the Ohio State football coach, should have been fired and if his punishment was sufficient. It is undisclosed on who sponsored this poll. If a sponsor had been disclosed they could have been looking to see if they could raise more attention to the public on whether or not the coach received a fit punishment, and if the NCAA, or the school should step in. However this poll did not alert or change the intentions of OSU because 83% of voters polled said he should not be fired and 56% said his punishment was sufficient. The methodology consisted of polling a small geography (Ohio), but it was taken of people already aware of the situation. The results were presented clearly and it is in the general of the Ohio participants that the Coach has been punished enough and should not be fired. There were no graphs presented with this survey.

Statistical reporting: UK economy

The study was done by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which is sponsored by the UK government.

From the news article it appears that the report is to show people how the economy has been unable to improve. They also want to give people a reason why the economy has be shrinking over the last quarter.

Not much is said about the methodology but the report mentions where the data was gathered from. The analysis was done after collecting output information from production industries.

Yes the information has been communicated in a clear and informative manner, especially for people who have an idea as to what the values mean. There are no graphs used to illustrate anything. To anyone without background understanding of the economy, the article may not be clear.

Americans Stress out About Work

1. This survey was conducted by Harris Interactive using the Harris Poll National Quorum from February 9th to February 20th, 2011.

2. This survey was conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Everest College.

3. The objective of this study was to find out what stressed out Americans in the work place. The results were that most Americans are stressed out about something at work (77%). Harris Interactive got numerous responses as to why Americans are stressed out. The findings were: 14% of Adults said low pay was the cause of stress, 11% said commuting was the problem, 9% said the workload was too much and unreasonable and fear of being fired, 8% said it was because of annoying coworkers, 5% also said it was because of their annoying bosses and poor work-life balance, and the last 4% said their was a lack of advancement and opportunity.

4. The methodology used in this survey was that they randomly telephoned 953 working adults ages 18 and older.

5. Yes, the results are communicated in a clear informative manner. It has information about the survey under the article.

6. There were not any graphs used in this survey.

Article Reference: PRNewswire published the article. Title is: Survey Reveals 77% of Americans Stressed About Something at Work. Published on March 30th, 2011. Wendy Cullen (Vice President employer at Everest College) and Davis K. Brimberg (psychologist at Everest) can answer any questions about the survey.

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/survey-reveals-77-of-americans-stressed-about-something-at-work-118912719.html

Stimulus Package Gone Wrong

Statistics Show Stimulus Package Results Have Gone From Bad to Worse By Peter Roff, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/peter-roff/2010/03/27/statistics-show-stimulus-package-results-have-gone-from-bad-to-worse

This survey was conducted by the Republicans on the House Ways & Means Committee, who gathered information showing that the White House's proposed "fix" for the economy isn't working. The research was assisted by numbers given by the U.S. Department of Labor showing the actual change in state payroll employment through February 2010. With Barack Obama and much of the White House being of the Democratic party, the Republican party could be using these numbers to their advantage, showing the people that their plans are not really working. the methodology in how they got these numbers is just not described but says that they came from the U.S. Department of Labor. the information is clear and the point of the article and survey is clear to readers. the table at the end of the article is easy to read and with the help of red and green highlighted colors, you can clearly see that there were only two out of the fifty states that have done well since this new stimulus package has been put into place.

Obama and the Jews

1. Who did the study, survey, or experiment?

Charles Blow

2. Who sponsored the research?
The Pew Research Center

3. Could the sponsor of this study have an interest in finding a particular result?

They do research for these types of things, so it is probably just another statistic for them.

4. Is information on methodology included? (methodology would include: sample size, random sample, control group)

It was a control group in that he only looked at those who voted 75% or higher for Obama in 2008, but within that it was a random sample of certain types of people: blacks (not college educated and not wealthy), white democrats, Hispanics age 18-29, religiously unaffiliated, democrats, liberals, all adults.

5. Are the results communicated in a clear informative manner?

Yes. The article opens with a large and easy to read table conveying results.

6. Are graphs used in a clear informative manner?

No graphs are included

Article:

Obama and the Jews, Part 2

By: Charles M. Blow

http://blow.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/obama-and-the-jews-part-2/

Heartbreak hurts

McMillen, Matt. "To the brain, getting burned, getting dumped feel the same ." Health.com March 29, 2011: n. pag. Web. 29 Mar 2011. http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/03/28/burn.heartbreak.same.to.brain/index.html .

In a study led by doctor Ethan Kross,an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor researchers were able to find that the sensation of being burned physically and hurt emotionally activate the same networks in the brain. The sponsors of the research were not mentioned but the method used to find the data were. According to this article, 21 women and 19 men had their brains monitored by a fMRI scan while they were given a shock that created a sensation similar to being burnt by hot coffee and then later forced to look at and focus on memories they had with their recent romantic love interests. All of the volunteers were dumped in the 6 months prior to the study and had no medical history of mental illness or chronic pain. According to the article the fMRI showed that the secondary somatosensory cortex and the dorsal posterior insula were triggered during both exercises and before this study those areas of the brain were only associated with physical pain. The study was important because it helps doctors to see that emotional therapy along with physical therapy for a patient can help them recuperate better.

Survey on Sexual Activity, Assignment #1

1. The study was done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and reported by The New York Times

2. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sponsored this study

3. The sponsor possibly had this study done to determine the relation between young people having sex and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.

4. Methodology on whether or not the sample was a random sample and if there was a control group was not given by the article. It did state that the sample size was 5,300 people between the ages 15 to 24.

5. Results are given in a clear manner, stating that the proportion in that age group who said they had never had any form of sex rose in the past decade to about 28 percent, from 22 percent. Yet the article does say that the results may be slightly inaccurate due to previous surveys not gathering enough information about the various types of sex.

6. There are no graphs used in this article

Article References:
The Associated Press, For Young, Sex Falls in Survey,
The New York Times, March 3rd, 2011,
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/04/us/04sex.html?_r=1&scp=4&sq=survey&st=cse

Stats advice

Future stats students,

You dont have to enjoy stats to get something out of this class, but it helps. If you stay on top of the work, you will be fine. If you dont, you will struggle to complete the work, and there is a lot of it. You may do more work in this class than any other, but if you stay focused, you should be able to handle it. Take Dr. Stull up on his offers to help, he is an invaluable resource when it comes to understanding the topics, and especially the research project. Good luck!!

To Future Students

This can be a fun class if you don't fight it.

the way it's structured gives you a lot of freedom to choose what you want to learn about. In the end, it gives you reasons for asking people questions, and the tools you need to interpret their answers.

With that said, choose something you actually want to learn about. Just like sitting through a class that holds no interest for you, surveying people about things that mean nothing to you probably won't be too fun or worthwhile. As I said before, you are essentially being given a chance to create your own class topic, don't waste it.

Another note, when plotting out how much time you need, be generous to yourself. To give an estimation, surveying roughly 100 people of as wide a class representation as possible took about 2 or 3 nights. Follow this advice and you will thank yourself in the end.

Advice for Future Students

For any future students who are taking business statistics and are required to tackle a project of this magnitude I offer some advice.

First off make sure you choose a topic that is interesting to you. This will make sure that you stay focused and motivated throughout the duration of your project. A project that is boring a pointless will simply be boring and pointless, opposed to eye opening and interesting. This will help if you can find a company and or campus organization that would like a certain survey done. This will ensure your project is meaningful and more than likely will help formulate specific questions that can be answered.

Second. Make sure you get your methodology right, it is a very important aspect of the project, biased results are worthless. When Chuck Stull says you should start handing out surveys, do it, surveys take time to collect and fill out, therefore time is of essence. Do not be afraid to branch out, a good way to increase your grade is try and deviate from only collecting Kalamazoo College student data, try western, even KVCC, an online survey can help in this aspect.

Most importantly, take your time and relish this project. It may seem mundane at times, but the implications of statistics cannot be stressed enough. We are exposed to them every single day yet more often than not we take them for granted. This project helps inform, you the creator, of the true nature of statistics and how they can be manipulated and how correlation does not always imply causation. View this project as a learning experience not a one and done type of deal.

FInal blog assignment

Part 2
Some advice that I would give future students who plan to do this project is to not procrastinate it, get a good partner you can work well if you decide to have one and get your surveys out to student quickly. If you procrastinate this project you will be very stress out the night before its due when you’re trying to collect everything and put it together. You should give yourself at least 5 days prior to when the project is due to start your paper. Work each day on certain pieces of data, this will make your work load seem less than having to perform it all in one sitting. Working with a partner can benefit you in finding mistakes on your project and minimizing your individual workload. If you plan to work with a partner I recommend you work with someone that you know you can get along with. Your partner should be as motivated as you are or more to do well on the project. Working with someone who is not motivate and puts everything on you will make your research experience terrible. Getting your survey out to Kalamazoo College students early will benefit your research data in the long run. If you have a student conduct your survey as a first will usually cause the student to take your survey more responsibly and realistic. Students who have already conduct numerous business stat surveys during the week will tend to be sick and tired of them the time you get to them if you get your surveys out late. The earlier you get you’re surveys out the better.