[R-sig-teaching] Statistics are SO boring...

[Christophe Genolini]

Hi the list,

As a statistics teacher, I teach to NOT-scientists student, public that 
it is permanently necessary to motivate. I am thus in search of examples 
both scientific and playful to illustrate my courses. It is not always 
easy to find. As other teacher might be in the same case, I say to 
myself that we could maybe share our 'best' examples?

So I start: a social psychologist (Nicolas Gueguen, article here 
http://nicolas.gueguen.free.fr/index.html) has establishes that if we 
approach a perfect unknown lady on a beach and we ask for its phone 
number, we have 9 % of chance to obtain it. If we call her by touching 
her slightly on the front arm, we have 19 % (!!!) of chances to obtain 
it (test of chi2, p < 0.01). Surprising, isn't it?

So what are your 'best examples' ?

Christophe Genolini

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Christophe Genolini
Maitre de conférences
INSERM U669, Equipe Biostatistiques
UFR STAPS, Université de Paris Ouest-Nanterre-La Défense
Web: http:\\christophe.genolini.free.fr