Author Archives: Todd Swanson

About Todd Swanson

Todd Swanson (swansont@hope.edu) is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Hope College in Holland, Michigan.

Data Sets

The following data sets have been submitted by members of the SBI listserve.

  • Hope College students (in 2003) were wondering if there are any gender differences when it comes to how long people talk on their cell phone. They asked a sample of other students and asked them their gender (0=female, 1=male) and how long their last cell phone call was as measured in seconds (they could find this data recorded on the phone). Dealing with the outlier in this data set makes it interesting.  cellphonedata

Student projects: A reflection of how the course is taught

Todd Swanson – Hope College

SWANSON_TODD

I’ve had students complete projects in my introductory statistics course for at least 20 years. My expectations, requirements, and outcomes have evolved much over this time including how the data are gathered, what type of data I allow to be gathered, and how the project is presented. Things that were acceptable years ago are not acceptable now. The projects have become more and more like real research and the move in this direction has certainly been aided by using a simulation-based curriculum. [pullquote]Projects now reflect the real research studies that we explore in class every day. [/pullquote] Continue reading