On Fri, 28 Sep 2012 16:31:01 -0700, Karl LWuensch wrote: > No, but if asked which is smaller, 9.7% or 10%, some would have >trouble.
Not to be overly skeptical, but I'd like to see some data on this. Do you do the traditional frequency tables in your course? Going from freq to freq/N to (freq/N)*100? If so, can they construct such frequency tables by hand? >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 I've seen this before. But you'd have to admit that there should be a difference between someone in a mind-numbing call service job and an undergraduate. And though I like to bash would-be clinicians with overly optimistic evaluations of their future careers, I do remember that both Jack Cohen and Peter Bentler got their Ph.D. in clinical psych (Jack at NYU, Bentler at Stanford). So, not all clinicians (would be and otherwise) are completely numerically challenged. Seriously, I would collect some data on this. Could be comparable to Gigerenzer's point on using simple frequencies versus probabilities in things like the baserate problem. -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu -----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: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=20777 or send a blank email to leave-20777-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
