Get Thee Behind Me, Statistics!

Monday, January 18, 2010
Updated 1/18/2010: I have the required sample for this project, so I'll be closing the poll and removing the entry from the top of the blog. Thanks to all who participated.

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So you all know I'm taking a statistics class this quarter. So far I've been doing pretty well, but I think that has more to do with me spending more time on the work than I have in previous courses than any native ability. I'm okay with that, actually, although I do wish I knew more about Excel.

In any event, I'm required to do a project as part of my coursework. The project work itself is just the application of basic statistical operations on a data set, but first...I need a data set.

This is where you guys come in. I'm posting a poll below to collect a data set on the ages of my readers here at Hot Chicks Dig Smart Men. I'd greatly appreciate it if everyone would please participate so that I get a large enough sample for my project. Yes, lurkers and RSS feed readers, I am looking at you. IT WON'T KILL YOU THIS ONE TIME TO CLICK THROUGH AND PARTICIPATE IN THIS POLL.

Thanks, all. I'll be leaving this post at the top of the page for a bit to give the poll the best chance of gathering a representative sample. As an impetus to encourage people to vote, I will be giving away a homemade jam sampler to two randomly selected participants after the poll closes. If you want to be included in the "drawing" for that, please leave a comment on this post.


On a somewhat related note, am I the only one who snickers like a 12 year old boy when I see the term "standard deviation?" ::snirk::

24 comments:

Phiala said...

If you would like a larger sample set, I imagine I can recruit people to click your poll. It would no longer be representative of your blog readers, but if you need a bigger sample size anyway let me know.

WendyB_09 said...

...am I the only one who snickers like a 12 year old boy when I see the term "standard deviation?" ::snirk::

me too!! One of those legitimate terms that sounds dirty.

Yummmm...homemade jam entry...

vince said...

">20" (the first option) should be "<21" Janiece.

Janiece said...

Phiala, I think I'll be okay, but thanks for the assist (if needed).

Vince, I appreciate the correction, but if I change the poll, it'll reset to zero, damn the luck.

Also, Phiala and Vince, do you want to be entered in the Jam Giveaway?

Skatĉjo said...

I'm totally here for the jam. :-)

vince said...

Mmmmm.... jam. Silly me. Yes, please enter me in your random jam sampler giveaway.

nzforme said...

Did someone say homemade jam?

Warner (aka ntsc) said...

I'm 3 standard deviations taller than the average american male (circa 1964).

And I make jam.

Janiece said...

Welcome, Skatĉjo.

Clearly I need to give away goodies more often to lure the lurkers out of the woodwork. :-)

mfheadcase said...

Mmmmmm Jam... Heh, based on your chosen categories, i am one the young'ns... in the 31 to 40 range, nevermind the detail of how little time i have left in that range.

MWT said...

I've never had any of your jam, so, here's my entry. :)

Nathan said...

Jam me baby! (Statistically speaking, that is.)

Random Michelle K said...

I'll be really really really quiet about survey methods, even though I took an entire freaking class in it.

JAM! JAM! JAM!

Janiece said...

Michelle, I talked to my professor about the whole "self-selected sample" thing. Since the point of this particular project isn't to analyze the data for the purpose of coming to some kind of conclusion, but to show that I can execute the operations, the survey method is okay in this case.

My next project will probably involve a more defensible data set.

Steve Buchheit said...

mmm, jam.

David said...

"She's just using the jam as a lure, you know that."

"Ooooh, but it's WORKING."

Janiece said...

Welcome, David.

You are so right.

"Excellent."

Dr. Phil (Physics) said...

Did someone say "homemade jam"?

Naw, must have been those standard deviations whispering amongst themselves.

Dr. Phil

Thordr said...

yummy jam, should have a second poll for gender ;) just to find out.

Tania said...

Jam, jam, jammety, jam. Jam, eggs, and jam.

Venus Vaughn said...

I'm so glad Vince mentioned the Greater Than / Less Than correction, because I was like, "Oh no! I picked wrong." That'd be one hell of a subset though. All of you younger than 80, speak up!

The Mechanicky Gal said...

JAM! I AM HERE FOR THE JAM.
Carry on.

Phiala said...

Nope, you don't need any additional publicity, do you? :)

And jam? You bet.

MWT said...

Since the point of this particular project isn't to analyze the data for the purpose of coming to some kind of conclusion

Mmm... data analysis for the sake of data analysis. I've done lots of that. :)