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How Traditional Introductory Statistics Textbooks Fail to Serve Social Science Undergraduates

When no weighting variable is used, the estimate is that about 50% of the population know the Jewish Sabbath starts on Friday.
No weighting variable: the estimate is that about 50% of the population knows that the Jewish Sabbath starts on Friday.
When the data is appropriately weighted, the estimate changes by about 5 percentage points.
Appropriately weighted data: The estimate changes by about 5 percentage points, suggesting that only 45% of the population knows the correct start time.

Full disclosure: I approach this topic simultaneously from the perspective of a social scientist and as the instructor of a traditional introductory statistics class for over twenty years. I am, thus, myself part of the problem. While I am mainly following the dictates of some of the most popular text books, it is fully within my power to diverge from the book. When I do not do so, it is really my own fault—a sheep following the sheep dogs.

Our worst failure as statistics teachers is to teach as if all or most of the data that our students will engage with in their future careers are from simple random samples.Read More »How Traditional Introductory Statistics Textbooks Fail to Serve Social Science Undergraduates