No, but if asked which is smaller, 9.7% or 10%, some would have trouble. Several of these students told me they expect to get a doctorate in clinical psychology and earn over $100K annually after they do. They may well end up working for Verizon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN9LZ3ojnxY Cheers, Karl L. Wuensch -----Original Message----- From: Michael Palij [mailto:m...@nyu.edu] Sent: Friday, September 28, 2012 7:24 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Cc: Michael Palij Subject: Re: [tips] Is p < .05 ? Do they have the same problem if you restate it in terms of percentages? So, if p= 5%, circle which of the following is smaller: a) 1% b) 10% c) 3% d) 6% If they can't do this, then your students in are in real trouble. Then again, if you re-frame it into: If cost = $5, circle which of the following is smaller: a) $1 b) $10 c) $3 d) $6 If they can't do this, then I have some investments I'd like to talk to them about. -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu ----------------- Original Message ---------------- On Fri, 28 Sep 2012 15:11:29 -0700, Beth Benoit wrote: Karl, Is it possible they're having trouble with the < vs. the >? I'd be willing to bet that most Americans - no, slash that - most *people* struggle with what those two signs represent. I know, it "ain't rocket science," but I suspect a lot of people never had that explained to them. *Please* say that's what it really is. ;-) Beth Benoit Granite State College Plymouth State University New Hampshire On Fri, Sep 28, 2012 at 5:43 PM, Wuensch, Karl L <wuens...@ecu.edu> wrote: > I am not the greatest fan of NHST, but do my duty to teach it. > For a good while now I have been disturbed that a substantial > proportion of my undergraduate students never figure out how to decide > whether or not a test is significant. I tried stressing that p is a > measure of the goodness of fit between the data and the null, that p > is like the strength of evidence in support of the accused null defendant in > statistical court, and so on. > Nothing seemed to help much. > > Now one of my teaching assistants has discovered why. Given > two numbers, these students are unable to identify which is smaller. > No, I am not kidding. Yes, this involves numbers between 0 and 1. My > TA spend half an hour trying to teach them how to tell which is the > smaller of two numbers, without great success. --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: wuens...@ecu.edu. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13060.c78b93d4d09ef6235e9d494b3534420e&n=T&l=tips&o=20772 or send a blank email to leave-20772-13060.c78b93d4d09ef6235e9d494b35344...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=20774 or send a blank email to leave-20774-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
