Statistics in Journalism: Guiding Students to Uncrunch the Numbers

• Activity Number: 177
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Monday, August 4, 2014 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistical Education
• Author(s): Nancy Pfenning*+
• Companies: University of Pittsburgh
• Keywords: education ; journalism ; media ; interdisciplinary ; outreach ; reporting

Abstract

The quantity of available statistical information has grown at an astounding rate in recent years. Many of us--including our students--are justifiably concerned about the quality of such information. I will describe a new course that I co-taught with a journalism professor in 2013. I will also discuss how this experience lead to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education that resonated with readers on a surprising number of different levels.

The resulting connections with a variety of audiences provides statistics educators with several outreach options worth considering. Besides offering a Stats in Journalism seminar or course, instructors might also be inspired to speak to high school students, or to undergraduates in any major for which quantitative literacy is essential, or to advise a journal club.

By scrutinizing the information in journal articles, and "uncrunching" the numbers in accompanying media reports, we can give students eye-opening insights to raise awareness of common flaws in research and reporting. This puts all of us in a position to have a positive impact in today's world, as we strive to prevent the "information age" from being the "misinformation age