[tips] Position opening

Assistant Professor, Psychology St. Ambrose University seeks qualified applicants for a full-time, tenure-track appointment in the Department of Psychology to begin August 2015. The ideal candidate will have a PhD in Psychology with expertise in Experimental Psychology or Neuropsychology. ABD’s

RE: [tips] Spurious Correlations

Hi Here's one example of what I have in mind. A few decades ago I came across a newspaper heading "Want to get good grades? Don't study!" It was based on a survey of high school students finding no significant correlation between amount of studying and grades. The research literature shows that

Re: [tips] Random Numbers

My major professor and I kept a random number generator in the lab when we needed random numbers for creating multiple orders of items in a list or creating other random assignments: Three pennies in a box. :-) On a serious note, statisticians have multiple tests to evaluate the quality of a seri

RE: [tips] Spurious Correlations

Yes, X might have a zero correlation with Y despite being causally related to Y. One way this can happen is when there is no direct effect but two indirect effects, one indirect effect being positive, the other negative, and their magnitudes being similar. Alternatively, with only one

RE: [tips] Spurious Correlations

Often those correlations called spurious are just those for which we don't know enough to explain why the covary. That correlation between human and stork populations was set into motion by unknown events that took place at the time of the Big Bang. More proximally, it has been

RE: [tips] Spurious Correlations

On Fri, 10 Oct 2014 08:20:18 -0700, Jim Clark wrote: Hi A lot of the discussion of how to interpret correlations involves the presence of a simple correlation, as in the spurious correlation examples. It is equally important to emphasize to students that the absence of correlation is subject to

RE:[tips] Random Numbers

Yes, in class the other day I was pointing out that the Excel random number generator is basically a pseudo-random number generator based on an algorithm that can be useful for certain things but that true random sequences based on atmospheric noise are available for free at http://random.org.

[tips] Random Numbers

Do keep in mind that random numbers are not random. It is a deterministic procedure that produces them. In fact, for the typical random number generator, if you run it twice with the same seed you will get exactly the same two sets of "random" numbers. Cheers, [Karl L. Wuensch]

RE: [tips] Spurious Correlations

Hi A lot of the discussion of how to interpret correlations involves the presence of a simple correlation, as in the spurious correlation examples. It is equally important to emphasize to students that the absence of correlation is subject to all the same concerns. That is, absence of correlati

RE: [tips] Spurious Correlations

On Fri, 10 Oct 2014 06:41:38 -0700, Rick Froman wrote: One thing I have found helpful in teaching the concept of spurious correlations is to have students populate a number of columns in a spreadsheet with random numbers and then calculate correlations between all the columns of random numbers. S

RE: [tips] Spurious Correlations

One thing I have found helpful in teaching the concept of spurious correlations is to have students populate a number of columns in a spreadsheet with random numbers and then calculate correlations between all the columns of random numbers. Since they are random, the correlation in the populatio

re: [tips] Spurious Correlations

On Thu, 09 Oct 2014 18:23:19 -0700, Carol DeVolder wrote: Perhaps others are familiar with this site, but I wasn't. It's a fun collection of spurious correlations. Good for examples in class. http://tylervigen.com/ For people interested in such things, I suggest one take a look at some of Brian

Re: [tips] Spurious Correlations

And just a reminder, you can find examples of confusing correlation and causation here http://jfmueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/100/correlation_or_causation.htm Jon === Jon Mueller Professor of Psychology North Central College 30 N. Brainard St. Naperville, IL 60540 voice: (630)-637

Re: [tips] Spurious Correlations

Thanks! I am just introducing correlational methods...good timing! G.L. (Gary) Peterson,Ph.D Psychology@SVSU > On Oct 9, 2014, at 9:23 PM, Carol DeVolder wrote: > > > > > > > > Perhaps others are familiar with this site, but I wasn't. It's a fun > collection of spurious correlation