This paper is from Session 5F: Statistical Education for Decision Makers for Evidence Based Policy Making
which comes under Topic 5: Statistics education in the workplace, government and across disciplines
Paper 5F2 (Tuesday 10th, 14:00-15:30)
Teaching Basic Statistics Using Integrated Global Census and Survey Data
Presenter
- Kristen Jeffers (University of Minnesota, United States)
Co-authors
- Lara Cleveland (University of Minnesota, United States)
- Miriam King (University of Minnesota, United States)
Abstract
We describe the IPUMS databases of consistently coded census and survey microdata from around the world, which are available for free on the Internet (www.ipums.org) to educators and students, and we discuss the advantages of using these real-world data to teach statistics. Based on feedback from statistics educators at the ICOTS 9 conference and at meetings of the International Association for Statistical Education, we developed exercises, posted online, with 9 modules on teaching basic statistics using global census and health survey data. With integrated data from nearly 100 countries, teachers can easily modify these exercises to suit the interests of their students, vary course content every semester, and prepare students to evaluate inconsistencies and cope with imperfections in real-world data.