September 23, 2013

Stat of the Week Competition: September 21 – 27 2013

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Each week, we would like to invite readers of Stats Chat to submit nominations for our Stat of the Week competition and be in with the chance to win an iTunes voucher.

Here’s how it works:

  • Anyone may add a comment on this post to nominate their Stat of the Week candidate before midday Friday September 27 2013.
  • Statistics can be bad, exemplary or fascinating.
  • The statistic must be in the NZ media during the period of September 21 – 27 2013 inclusive.
  • Quote the statistic, when and where it was published and tell us why it should be our Stat of the Week.

Next Monday at midday we’ll announce the winner of this week’s Stat of the Week competition, and start a new one.

The fine print:

  • Judging will be conducted by the blog moderator in liaison with staff at the Department of Statistics, The University of Auckland.
  • The judges’ decision will be final.
  • The judges can decide not to award a prize if they do not believe a suitable statistic has been posted in the preceeding week.
  • Only the first nomination of any individual example of a statistic used in the NZ media will qualify for the competition.
  • Individual posts on Stats Chat are just the opinions of their authors, who can criticise anyone who they feel deserves it, but the Stat of the Week award involves the Department of Statistics more officially. For that reason, we will not award Stat of the Week for a statistic coming from anyone at the University of Auckland outside the Statistics department. You can still nominate and discuss them, but the nomination won’t be eligible for the prize.
  • Employees (other than student employees) of the Statistics department at the University of Auckland are not eligible to win.
  • The person posting the winning entry will receive a $20 iTunes voucher.
  • The blog moderator will contact the winner via their notified email address and advise the details of the $20 iTunes voucher to that same email address.
  • The competition will commence Monday 8 August 2011 and continue until cancellation is notified on the blog.
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Rachel Cunliffe is the co-director of CensusAtSchool and currently consults for the Department of Statistics. Her interests include statistical literacy, social media and blogging. See all posts by Rachel Cunliffe »

Nominations

  • avatar
    Scott Maka

    Statistic: Over 40 per cent of the near 10,000 people who had responded yesterday afternoon voted the Radio Sport yachting buff their favourite commentator.
    Source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11128566
    Date: 23 September 2013

    Selection bias!

    “America’s Cup – Montgomery still voice of the cup for Kiwis”.

    That’s the headline – but the story does not back it up. It turns out that the story hangs off an nzherald.co.nz survey of its own readers, who self-select in terms of participation.

    The headline should read “America’s Cup – Montgomery still voice of the cup for Kiwis who came to nzherald.co.nz yesterday and choose to participate in our survey”.

    11 years ago

  • avatar
    Nikki Styles

    Statistic: I was doing some research for my massey paper when I came across this. 77% of kiwis take at least two nights off each week to stay alcohol-free.
    Source: Canstar blue
    Date: 21 March 2013

    It’s interesting because its a real surprise that its that high. I would think we would have at least four nights off drinking a week.

    11 years ago

  • avatar
    Nick Iversen

    Statistic: Skin cancer is good for you
    Source: New Zealand Herald
    Date: 23 September 2013

    The headline and the text imply that skin cancer (the non-melanoma kind) is good for you. “Men and women with non-melanoma skin cancer had nearly half the risk of an early death as people without the disease.”

    This seems quite paradoxical – skin cancer surely can’t possibly improve your chances of survival.

    The researchers who did the study suggest that sun exposure is good for you. But they, unlike the newspaper article, warn that “causal conclusions cannot be made from our data.” [The paper is at http://ije.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2013/09/13/ije.dyt168.abstract%5D

    I have a far more reasonable explanation of the paradox.

    It is known that exercise is beneficial for health; people who exercise more get more sun, people who get more sun get more skin cancer. More skin cancer but still better health.

    11 years ago