TY - JOUR AU - Takeuchi, May PY - 2013/07/29 Y2 - 2024/03/28 TI - Be A Wise Consumer of Information JF - TRAILS: Teaching Resources and Innovations Library for Sociology JA - TRAILS VL - IS - SE - DO - UR - https://trails.asanet.org/article/view/be-a-wise-consumer-of-information SP - AB - "Statistical thinking will one day be as necessary for efficient citizenship as the ability to read and write" (H.G. Wells). While society is more and more filled with quantitative information, not all statements based on numerical results are scientific. Without applying solid logic in reading empirical data, we can be easily fooled by news stories, advertisements, or flashy pseudo-research findings only to make erroneous conclusions and decisions. This assignment is designed to help students 1) understand difference between correlation and causation; 2) use careful reasoning to fully digest empirical information; and finally 3) develop an alternative explanation to a simplistic causal statement by taking sociological variables (e.g., social class, years of education, age, gender) into account. ER -