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Stats Response Bias Project

Instead of giving my statistics students a semester test, I chose to assign them a response bias project based on one shared online by Josh Tabor.

text of "statistics response bias project" above drawing of laptop with colorful data displays

I was very impressed with how they carried out their projects.  It was fun for me, as a teacher, to watch them grapple with results that didn’t necessarily match their hypotheses.

I can’t wait to hang these up in the hall.  I’m hoping they will help spark other students’ interests regarding statistics.  

Response Bias Projects

This first project explored the impact of anonymity when asking high school students if they had ever smoked a cigarette.  

response bias poster project from high school statistics class.
response bias poster project from high school statistics class.
response bias poster project from high school statistics class.
response bias poster project from high school statistics class.
response bias poster project from high school statistics class.
response bias poster project from high school statistics class.

Another student explored the question, “Does adding a fact affect the answer?”  We had to have a discussion on the difference between affect and effect.  

I used a silly sentence I learned years ago to illustrate the difference:  “The arrow affected the aardvark.  The effect was eye-popping.”

This student surveyed people about how many hours they spend on their cell phones each day.  Some students were given a survey sheet that only featured the question.  

Other students were given a sheet that had a fact regarding the potential dangers of cell phones before the question.

response bias poster project from high school statistics class.
response bias poster project from high school statistics class.
response bias poster project from high school statistics class.
response bias poster project from high school statistics class.
response bias poster project from high school statistics class.

This student was especially distraught about the results she obtained.  When she added the fact to the survey sheets, the mean response rose!  

We had a good discussion about why the results didn’t necessarily line up with her hypothesis.

response bias poster project from high school statistics class.

The final group chose to survey students about their alcohol drinking habits.  They, too, explored the impact of anonymity on survey results.  

Interestingly, they got almost the same results from both their anonymous survey and their non-anonymous survey.  

The boys concluded that the students had lied in both surveys.  

response bias poster project from high school statistics class.

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