What is a median? How about an interquartile range? Don’t even get me started on how to define a p-value. These statistical concepts are hard to grasp for your average statistics student, but imagining how these types of definitions translate into American Sign Language is a whole other ballgame. That is the focus of this episode of Stats+Stories with special guest Dr. Regina Nuzzo.

Dr. Regina Nuzzo is a freelance science writer and professor in Washington, DC. After studying engineering as an undergraduate she earned her PhD in Statistics from Stanford University. Currently, she’s teaching statistics in American Sign Language at Gallaudet University, the world’s only liberal arts college for deaf and hard-of-hearing students.

Dr. Nuzzo is also a graduate of the Science Communication program at the University of California-Santa Cruz. Her science journalism specialties center around data, probability, statistics, and the research process. Her work has appeared in Nature, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Reader’s Digest, New Scientist, and Scientific American, among others.

Have you ever wondered why a search engine result for undocumented workers in North Carolina provides links to worker rights sites, while a search for illegal aliens in North Carolina would lead you to immigration concern sites? Did you know that Wikipedia entries for women have a higher recommend rate of deletion than entries for men? The heart of those questions is the focus of this episode of Stats and Stories with guest Dr. Francesca Tripodi.

Dr. Francesca Tripodi is a sociologist and media scholar whose research examines the relationship between social media, political partisanship, and democratic participation, revealing how Google and Wikipedia are manipulated for political gains. She is an assistant professor at the UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS), a senior faculty researcher with the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life (CITAP) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and an affiliate at the Data & Society Research Institute. In 2019, Dr. Tripodi testified before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee on her research, explaining how search processes are gamed to maximize exposure and drive ideologically based queries. Her research has been covered by The Washington Post, The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Columbia Journalism Review, Wired, The Guardian, and The Neiman Journalism Lab.

Enjoy this reposted episode from last Spring about the history of Baseball while we take off the July 4th Holiday in the U.S.

Much of the United States is buried under snow and ice, leaving many dreaming of spring. For some – that dream of spring brings with it a longing to hear the crack of a ball on a bat or the taste of peanuts in a ballpark. With the spring thaw comes baseball season and, with it, the inevitable number crunching associated with the sport. Data and baseball is the focus of this episode of Stats and Stories with guest Christopher J. Phillips.

Phillips is a historian of science at Carnegie Mellon University. His research is on the history of statistics and mathematics, particularly the claimed benefits of introducing mathematical tools and models into new fields. He is the author of "Scouting and Scoring: How We Know What We Know about Baseball" and "The New Math: A Political History," and his work has been featured in the New York Times, Time.com, New England Journal of Medicine, Science, and Nature. He received his Ph.D. in History of Science from Harvard University.

What do farmers in Kenya, fishers in the Philippines and teenagers in Boston have in common? They all need to balance risks when making decisions ranging from seed choice after considering predicted rainfall to life vest and chance of shark attacks to social distancing and emotional impacts. Understand risk is the focus of today’s episode of Stats+Stories with guest Tracey Brown. 

Brown is the director of Sense about Science since 2002. Under her leadership, the charity has translated the case for sound science and evidence into popular campaigns to urge scientific thinking among the public and the people who answer to them. It has launched important initiatives including AllTrials, a global campaign for the reporting of all clinical trial outcomes; and the Ask for Evidence campaign, which engages the public in requesting evidence for claims. In 2010, the Times named Tracey as one of the ten most influential figures in science policy in Britain and in 2014 she was recognized by the Science Council for her work on evidence-based policy making. In June 2017 Tracey was made an OBE for services to science, and most recently in 2020 she was made an honorary Professor at UCL in the Department of Science, Technology and Engineering in Public Policy. She is also the author of a recent article in Significance magazine describing “What is risk know-how?”

What does 2022 have in common with 2018 and 2026? What is special about 2023? These years include a month where work productivity will be reduced in many countries around the world. Each year will have a month when attention is split between work email and the most beautiful game. The World Cup once again draws the attention and passion of much of the world. Today’s episode focuses on the economics of global sporting events with guest Adam Beissel.

Beissel is a professor of sports leadership and management at Miami University. His primary research interests include: the political economy of Sport Mega-Events; Global Politics of International Sport; Sport Stadiums and Urban Development; Social and Economic (in)justice in College Sport; Sports Labor Markets and Global Athletic Migration. Beissel is currently working on two interconnected and interdisciplinary research projects critically examining the cultural and political economies of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup joint hosted by Australia and New Zealand and the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup joint hosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada.

In this special episode of Stats+Stories we announce our new guest host Regina Nuzzo, a professor at Gallaudet University and freelance Science writer, who will be joining us for the next couple of months. We will also be looking back at some of our favorite interviews from the past 12 months from the likes of...

Michelle Cardel - What is Nutrition Science - https://statsandstories.net/health1/what-is-nutrition-science

Timandra Harkness - The Data Economy - https://statsandstories.net/society1/the-data-economy

Sander van der Linden - Conspiracy Dissemination Dilemma - https://statsandstories.net/society1/conspiracy-dissemination-dilemma

Mike Orkin - The Stats of Skill vs. the Stories of Chance - https://statsandstories.net/society1/the-stats-of-skill-vs-the-stories-of-chance

Erik van Zwet (@erikvanzwet) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Data Sciences of the Leiden University Medical Center where he has been since 2009. He joined the school wanting to do more applied work in the areas of statistics and data analysis and has since published a paper in Significance Magazine which was the focus of our previous episode.

Most articles that appear in academic journals are kind of mundane in that they’re extending the work of scholars who have come before, or sometimes taking an old theory in a new direction. There are those moments however, when a piece of research holds the possibility of fundamentally remaking a field. How should those articles be handled? What’s the ethical way to review such research? That’s the focus of this episode of Stats and Stories with guest Andrew German.

Andrew Gelman (@StatModeling) is a professor of statistics and political science, and director of the Applied Statistics Center at Columbia University. His research interests include voting behavior and outcomes, campaign polling, criminal justice issues, social network structure, and statistical and research methods. He has received the Outstanding Statistical Application award three times from the American Statistical Association, the award for best article published in the American Political Science Review, and the Council of Presidents of Statistical Societies award for outstanding contributions by a person under the age of 40.

Timestamps

Could you just describe what a big if true article is? (1:37), Editor motivations and making a splash (9:00), How can reviewers be better? (12:47), Attributing credit in this new post publishing review system (15:21), Why you felt compelled to start your ethics article (18:43), Changing thoughts? (25:03)

In the United States, like many countries, middle-aged and older workers are increasingly a larger proportion of the workforce. The needs of these workers is different than those you are younger and can run the gamut from educational to health needs. That's the focus of this episode of Stats+Stories with guests Takashi‌ ‌Yamashita‌ and Phyllis A. Cummins

Takashi‌ ‌Yamashita‌ ‌‌is‌ ‌an‌ ‌associate‌ ‌professor‌ ‌of‌ ‌sociology,‌ ‌and‌ ‌a‌ ‌faculty‌ ‌in‌ ‌the‌ ‌Gerontology‌ ‌Ph.D.‌ ‌program‌ ‌and‌ ‌the‌ ‌Center‌ ‌for‌ ‌Aging‌ ‌Studies‌ ‌at‌ ‌University‌ ‌of‌ ‌Maryland,‌ ‌Baltimore‌ ‌County (UMBC).‌ ‌He‌ ‌also‌ ‌has‌ ‌a‌ ‌secondary‌ ‌appointment‌ ‌in‌ ‌the‌ ‌Department‌ ‌of‌ ‌Epidemiology‌ ‌and‌ ‌Public‌ ‌Health‌ ‌in‌ ‌the‌ ‌School‌ ‌of‌ ‌Medicine,‌ ‌and‌ ‌serves‌ ‌as‌ ‌an‌ ‌affiliate‌ ‌member‌ ‌of‌ ‌the‌ ‌Center‌ ‌for‌ ‌Research‌ ‌on‌ ‌Aging‌ ‌at‌ ‌the‌ ‌University‌ ‌of‌ ‌Maryland,‌ ‌Baltimore‌ ‌(UMB).‌ ‌His‌ ‌areas‌ ‌of‌ ‌research‌ ‌are‌ ‌social‌ ‌determinants‌ ‌of‌ ‌health‌ ‌and‌ ‌well-being‌ ‌over‌ ‌the‌ ‌life‌ ‌course,‌ ‌health‌ ‌literacy,‌ ‌wider‌ ‌benefits‌ ‌of‌ ‌lifelong‌ ‌learning,‌ ‌gerontology‌ ‌education‌ ‌and‌ ‌social‌ ‌statistics‌ ‌education.‌ ‌

Phyllis A. Cummins is a Senior Research Scholar Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology & Gerontology at the Scripps Gerontology Center here at Miami University. Her research interests include work and retirement transitions, education and training for older workers, publicly sponsored employment and training programs, the role community colleges play in education and training for older adult

A randomized controlled trial is viewed as the golden standard in medical research, particularly as it relates to treatments or interventions. But there may be pitfalls to trusting that approach too much. That's the focus of this episode of Stats and Stories with guest Erik van Zwet.

-Timestamps-

What is a RCT? (1:15), What are characteristic of a well designed trial? (2:00), How did you get interested in this research?(3:45), Data you obtained from Cochrane Database? 5:18), Power and how you got results (7:05), How does affect the laymen (9:49), Coverage of RCTs (12:00), Trends of exaggeration (14:17), What goes into exaggeration? (16:54), What needs to be done? (18:56), Across other fields (21:58)

Erik van Zwet (@erikvanzwet) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Data Sciences of the Leiden University Medical Center where he has been since 2009. He joined the school wanting to do more applied work in the areas of statistics and data analysis and has since published multiple papers in Significance Magazine including the main focus of today’s episode, “Addressing exaggeration of effects from single RCTs”.