I put together a draft guide to help people who would like to get some hands-on experience analyzing and describing survey data. The University of California at Berkeley has made the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) survey data from 1972 to 2012, along with the Survey Documentation and Analysis (SDA) software:
Click Here for SDA site
This is a draft guide and can be found under Tools and Guides: Check it out.
data analysis handy dandy guide r3Click here for guide
PEW has put together a great chart that looks at generational differences in views on gay marriage over time. It should not come as a surprise that the younger generations are more accepting of gay marriage than the older generations.
Click Here to check out this chart
Meta-Analysis is a useful analytical technique to make sense of many small studies. Experimental designs are often small. Science is built on a series of hypothesis testing, and conducting small, but controlled experiments, can provide useful insights. Large studies, however, are expensive and few researchers have the resources to conduct them using an experimental design. Even quasi-experimental designs are costly.
Over time, however, researchers can pull together the data from many small studies that are trying to answer the same research question. Meta-Analysis has the potential to see the larger patterns and determine whether there are statistically significant results. That said, it is not an easy analytic technique
In the soft drink/obesity research, one frequently cited study is “Effects of Soft Drink Consumption on Nutrition and health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis,” by Lenny R. Vartanian, Marlene B. Schwartz, and Kelly D. Brownell (2007), American Journal of Public Health, April 2007, vol 97, No. 4: 667-675. Continue reading
Mother Jones: Click Here
Americans appear to be losing the fight against excess weight. The trends have been generally upward since the 1970s–with spikes in the 1980s and 1990s– although they appear to have leveled off. The complexity of nutrition and weight gain is astounding and there are many theories, along with many diets, all too often presented as absolute fact. But science does not have this nailed down. So it is possible to sympathize with the American Beverage Association who have had to defend its sugar-sweetened beverages from attacks.
In a press release on ABA’s website posted September 21, 2012, Click Here, they claim that:
Of course, a press release does not have to show where the numbers came from or verify their accuracy. To do that, we would need to go to other sources or to make some judgments. Continue reading
Pew released a new report by Kim Parker and Wendy Wang: Modern Parenthood: Roles of Moms and Dads Converge as They Balance Work and Family.
They note in their overview: “The way mothers and fathers spend their time has changed dramatically in the past half century. Dads are doing more housework and child care; moms more paid work outside the home. Neither has overtaken the other in their “traditional” realms, but their roles are converging, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of long-term data on time use.”
How do you stack up? Take the Quiz: Click here
Read Report: Click Here
The Congressional Budget Office cialis price walgreens has released information about the Social Security Disability Insurance. It provides http://viagrageneric-edtop.com/ an info-graphic to present the basic information. generic cialis online “he Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) program provided cialis and liver $119 billion in benefits to 8.3 million disabled workers in fiscal year 2011, accounting for nearly 18 percent of total Social Security spending. In does generic cialis work addition, 2.0 million dependents of those workers received buy cialis online pharmacy benefits in 2011. CBO projects that in 2022, the DI program will provide benefits totaling $204 billion to over 12.3 million disabled workers and their dependents.” Click pharmacycanada-rxedtop.com Here
I was doing research, gathering headlines for a post. But the headlines told a story of their own. So here they are:
2010 November 2010, Corporate Profits Hit New Record, U.S. Workers Still Struggling 2011 January 2011, Profits Are Booming. Why Aren’t Jobs? May 2011, Corporate Profits At All-Time High As Recovery Stumbles June 2011, Since 2009, 88 Percent Of Income Growth Went To Corporate Profits, Just One Percent Went To Wages July 2011, Corporate profits’ share of pie most in 60 years July 2011, A Boom in Corporate Profits, a Bust in Jobs, Wages August 2011, Companies near record profits amid high unemployment October 2011, While Corporate Profits Are At 60-Year High, Main Street Businesses Continue To Struggle November 2011, GDP revised downward; corporate profits up 2012 February 2012, Corporate Margins And Profits Are Increasing, But Workers’ Wages Aren’t May 2012, Corporate Profits Return To Prerecession Levels, But Job Growth And Investment Remain Weak June 2012, Corporate Profits Just Hit An All-Time High, Wages Just Hit An All-Time Low July 2012, The Economy Stinks, but at Least Corporate Profits Are at 60-Year Highs! December 2012, Corporate profits hit all-time high as wages drop to record low 2013 March 4, 2013, Corporate Profits Have Risen Almost 20 Times Faster Than Workers’ Incomes Since 2008
This video came across my computer screen today. It is taking graphic representation to a new level.
Check it out: Video by Evan Klassen
Of course, it helps to know what he defines as “wealth.” It means tracking down the Harvard study as a starting point. Still, as an example of the use of graphics, it does a good job of presenting a complex set of data.More data can be found at Mother Jones: It’s the Inequality, Stupid. Mother Jones puts it all in charts.
This is the chart that the video leads with–comparing the different in perceptions and reality about wealth distribution.
PolitiFact has been tracking various statements about guns from advocates of new regulations on guns and those opposed to new regulations. to see Click Here
But some statements are just wrong: About homicides–“There’s more with hammers than with shotguns and pistols and AK-47s,” said Georgia state Sen. Bill Jackson.
PolitiFact provided these numbers from the 2011 FBI totals (the most recent year available) for the types of weapons used in homicides:
Handguns: 6,220
Rifles: 323
Shotguns: 356
Blunt Objects: 496
Words matter. And once you include pistols, as the state senator from Georgia did, his claim became pants on fire wrong. The number of homicides dramatically increases. Keep in mind that these are homicides. Once gun suicides are included, the number of deaths by guns more than doubles.
They attributed this statement to Mark Twain: “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter – it’s the difference between a lightning bug and the lightning.”
The Wall Street Journal has an article trying to define the middle class.
Check it out Here
It is a lot more complicated than it appears. The median household income varies by states and even by counties within states. Using the middle 60% of income provides a ridiculously wide group of households.