Making Data Analysis Realistic: Incorporating Research into Statistics Courses

Abstract

I describe the use of a student-designed Student Information Questionnaire that generates a large data set useful for teaching a variety of statistical procedures and concepts. This questionnaire helps statistics instructors minimize the use of uninteresting artificial data in their classes. Also, students learn firsthand that data analysis is an integral part of the research process, rather than an isolated set of procedures. Evaluations of the technique suggest that students find real data more interesting than artificial data and more helpful for learning statistics.