Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Regression analysis is an important aspect of most introductory statistics courses in sociology but is often presented in contexts divorced from the central concerns that bring students into the discipline. Consequently, we present five lesson ideas that emerge from a regression analysis of income inequality and mortality in the United States and Canada.

The notion of measuring human rights can be used with students beginning their studies of statistical analysis to foster a sense of creativity and encourage critical thinking. This article outlines ideas for four lessons which incorporate statistical analysis of human rights, from graphing the right to health using illness concentration curves to using ordinary least squares regression to examine differences in the human rights reporting of Amnesty International and the US State Department. Classroom discussion of measuring human rights can be used to stimulate an awareness of the need to examine statistics as products of socio-political forces.

In teaching introductory quantitative methods in sociology, I have used a controversial survey of mortality in Iraq before and after the 2003 invasion to highlight to students the power of simple questionnaires, the role of ambiguity in statistics, and the place of politics in the framing of statistical results. This brief report summarizes Roberts et al’s estimate that the invasion of Iraq resulted in 98,000 (95% CI = 8,000 – 194,000) deaths, as well as the intriguing reaction that the survey received in the press. Statistics teachers should find the Roberts et al study to be an effective way to …