Congress Less Popular Than Nickelback

Congress Less Popular Than Nickelback, Donald Trump, And Head Lice: Poll
by: Laura Matthews
International Business Times
1/8/2013

http://www.ibtimes.com/congress-less-popular-nickelback-donald-trump-head-lice-poll-1001516

1. Public Policy Polling (PPP) took an interview survey done by Tom Jensen.

2. They did not disclose who sponsored the research.

3. Again the sponsor was not disclosed, however judging by the questions that they asked the point of this survey was to show how poor of a view the American people have of Congress.

4. They surveyed 830 people. Other methodology information was not disclosed, but they left an email for people who had questions about methodology (information@publicpolicypolling.com

5. No, there are no graphs and you have to really read into the article to find the information.

6. No, there are no graphs in the article.

Cost of Renovating A Large Kitchen

Cooking in the Bayou
Katy McLaughlin
The Wall Street Journal
January 11, 2013

1. The journalist contacted a New Orleans-based construction company to estimate the cost of creating a kitchen like the one she was discussing in her article. The company then analyzed pictures of the kitchen in question and other similar projects to come up with estimated costs of each component of construction and a total cost.

2. The research was done by the vice president of Landis Construction.

3. The vice president of the construction company would definitely have an interest in the topic of renovation costs. The kitchen in the article was very professionally done and would be an excellent model for any future renovations. Also getting an accurate cost would be a good determinate of whether or not the company could handle a project of that magnitude.

4. There is no methodology given to explain how the results were given, except that there were a certain amount of photographs and blueprints analyzed.

5. The results are quite clearly laid out. The prices of each component of the renovation are given a large dollar amount in a list with the total given at the bottom.

6.The graph given is very simple list with the category and price easily seen.

Four Years Later, 28,000 More Jobs

Four Years Later, 28,000 More Jobs by Floyd Norris

January 4th, 2013 

The New York Times

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/04/four-years-later-28000-more-jobs/?ref=bureauoflaborstatistics

1. The Bureau of Labor Statistics figured out the changes in jobs during each presidential terms.

2. It does not specifically says who is the sponsor, but since the Bureau of Labor Statistics belongs to the Federal Government, government sponsored the research.

3. The government has an interest in finding economic ups and downs and based on this results, they want to make proper policies.

4. Yes, it does include information on methodology. The Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated that there were 725,000 more jobs in the private sector and 697,000 fewer government jobs. It will announce the final revision for the 12 months through March 2012. 

5. Yes, the results are communicated clearly through a table that includes changes in jobs during each presidential term.

6. No graph was used.

Rough Start for Congressional Approval Ratings

I found an article on the Gallup.com political page, which discusses Congress' low approval rating to start off the year. According to the poll, Congress' current job approval rating is at only 14%. This is a four percent drop since November and December of last year.

1. The survey was conducted by Gallup.

2. It appears that the research was funded by the Gallup News Service.

3. I don't believe that the sponsor was interested in finding a particular result. I think Gallup polls are generally unbiased. In the article, the author mentioned that both Democrats and Republicans had very similar levels of disapproval for Congress. So, I don't think this article leans to the left or right. The article also included an explanation of the results. Congressional approval ratings, according to the author, are so down due to the recent fiscal cliff argument in Congress. I think the author's main motivation in this study was to simply inform the public of the congressional approval ratings and explain the results.

4. Yes, the information on the methodology is included. The survey was performed via telephone interviews (half landline, half cell phones) on Jan 7-10, 2013. The random sample was 1,011 adults aged 18 or older, living in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The article also said the maximum margin of sampling error was + or - 4%. The article even included a link to the raw statistics of the survey.

5. Yes, the results are presented in a clear and informative manner. The article flows well and graphs are introduced when necessary.

6. Yes, the graphs were helpful to the overall quality of the article. There was a graph that showed the congressional approval rating over the past two years and a graph that showed congressional approval ratings by party identification (Democrat, Republican, Independent).

Author: Frank Newport
Title: Congress Begins 2013 with 14% Approval
Publication Title: Gallup Politics
Date: January 11, 2013
Link to Article: http://www.gallup.com/poll/159812/congress-begins-2013-approval.aspx
Link to Raw Data: http://www.gallup.com/file/poll/159818/Congress_approval_130111.pdf

Earth’s Geomagnetic Activity Causes Crazy Dreams

Author: Ewen Callaway

Title: “Sweet Dreams are made of Geomagnetic Activity”

Publication Tite: NewScientist

Date: 01 April 2009

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16871-sweet-dreams-are-made-of-geomagnetic-activity.html

1.      Darren Lipnicki performed a study on himself, looking for Earth’s geomagnetic activity’s effect on his dreams.

2.      Lipnicki sponsored his own study. He said himself, “I always wanted to do science with them (his dreams)”.

3.      He definitely had an interest in the study, but it’s not apparent that he wanted a particular result. Then again, perhaps he wanted to see that geomagnetic activity did have an effect so that he could gain recognition. However, previous studies have already drawn a correlation between low geomagnetic activity and increase in melatonin production in the human body. The hormone causes deeper, more effective REM sleep. So Lipnicki was likely looking for any result to confirm or disprove his theory that low geomagnetic activity causes crazier dreams.

4.      Lipnicki kept a dream journal for seven years, recording each dream on a scale of 1 to 5; 1 being completely normal and 5 being incredibly bizarre. The events of a 3-rated dream was considered possible, but very unlikely. Each day he also recorded the geomagnetic activity in Perth, Australia (where he resides). After isolating the days of extreme highs and lows of geomagnetic activity, he saw that on days of low geomagnetic activity his dreams were significantly more bizarre. Conversely, high geomagnetic activity seemed to cause his dreams to be more realistic.

5.      The results are communicated quite clearly, although we are not given the actual raw data. We also aren’t given any numbers for how “high” and “low” geomagnetic activity were calculated.

6.      There are no graphs at all. Just a written relay of Lipnicki’s study.

Students Become Less Engaged As They Progress Through It

1. The survey was conducted by Gallup.com

2. The sponsorship was by The Des Moines Register

3. Any sponsor would be interested in finding this result, especially since it is negative because if it wasn't negative, then there wouldn't really be anything interesting to report. Average doesn't make headlines.

4. The methodology for the survey would be that Gallup electronically polled 500,000 students from 5th to 12th grade. By all appearances, the survey appears to use a random sample of students but information is lacking.

5. The results were communicated clearly but it would have been interesting to know more about what types of questions were asked on the survey.

6. No graphs were used.

Eller, Donnelle. Poll Finds Students Less Engaged Over Time. USA Today. 7 Jan, 2013. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/07/poll-students-less-engaged-over-time/1566102/    

Winter 2013

Welcome to our class blog.  Feel free to browse the posts from previous students.  Some posts are tagged by topic (see list at right).  We'll use this site for some assignments early in the term and then to share results and advice at the end of the quarter.