SMASHING RECORDS If you follow football, you may have recently heard that Los Angeles Chargers quarterback (and owner of the second best head of hair in the NFL) Justin Herbert signed a blockbuster deal to become the highest paid quarterback in NFL history (in terms of average annual value, AAV). If that sounds familiar, it…
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DATA DETECTIVES: ARE WOLVERINES LESS EMPATHETIC?
Up to this point, Data Detectives has focused on claims which lack quantitative backing due to simple errors in calculation. These are the most common types of errors you’ll see: people simply saying things without the requisite backing or people making some sort of statistical mistake that spirals. Today, however, we’ll be looking at a…
Truth is Stranger than Fiction
Written by Connor Zahler: Of all the phenomena that social scientists have an interest in, conspiracy theories may appear to have the least association with anything quantitative. Everyone knows the stereotypical hallmarks: tinfoil hats, irrational suspicion, chains of association that defy logic, and general unlikeliness. What few know, though, is that quantitative research into conspiracy…
EVEN MORE PODCAST RECOMMENDATIONS FOR QMSS FANS
Written by Connor Zahler To get you through the long summer months, we’ve prepared this list of podcast recommendations for you. A note: the views and ideas expressed in any of these shows are not those of the author, QMSS, or the University of Michigan. This is not an endorsement of everything in all of…
IRONY AND IRE PART 2: DISHONESTY REDUX
Written by Connor Zahler: If you haven’t read the first part of this series, this article won’t make much sense, so go do that. Oh no-no, you can’t disguise You can’t disguise No, you can’t disguise Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies NOT MUCH INTO HEALTH FOOD: STUDY 3 An oft-quoted Bible verse…
IRONY AND IRE: GOOD DATA, CAUGHT IN THE RAIN
Written by Connor Zahler: Honesty is such a lonely word Everyone is so untrue Honesty is hardly ever heard And mostly what I need from you IF YOU LIKE DATA COLADAS Astute readers may remember the concept of p-hacking, where researchers manipulate data processing and analysis to achieve statistically significant results. What they may not…
QMSS Through the Ages: Robert Cooley Angell
Written by Connor Zahler: To any U of M student, the name Angell should ring a few bells. Many LSA students have had classes in Angell Hall. Top-performing students are awarded the title of Angell Scholar. The name comes to us from James B. Angell, university president and diplomat extraordinaire. James, however, is not the…
CELEBRATING LGBTQIA2S+ VOICES IN DATA SCIENCE
Image created with the help of DALL-E 2 Editor’s Note: This article uses the terms “LGBTQIA2S+” and “Queer” interchangeably to refer to the same community of people, as Michigan’s Spectrum Center does. QMSS acknowledges that terms like “Queer” have contentious histories and usages. These terms are absolutely not meant as a reflection of discrimination or…
A Quantitative Look at the Cost of College
Image created using DALL-E Written by Cecilia Morales: Introduction Given that a college education is viewed as an essential component of preparedness for the workforce, a vast number of Americans decide to pursue this path, with 17.9 million students enrolled in 2022. Due to the drastic increase in college costs over time, many individuals have…
STEPPING OUT OF RANK FOR A DATA-DRIVEN CAUSE: U-M LAW AND LAW SCHOOL RANKINGS
Written by Connor Zahler INTRODUCTION It’s not a stretch to assume that most University of Michigan students have heard of, or even consulted, U.S. News and World Report. Since 1983, they’ve put out a ranking of colleges and universities across the United States. Michigan, of course, often ranks highly. They don’t stop at undergraduate programs,…