Using Facebook Data to Turn Introductory Statistics Students into Consultants

Abstract

Facebook provides businesses and organizations with copious data that describe how users are interacting with their page. This data affords an excellent opportunity to turn introductory statistics students into consultants to analyze the Facebook data using descriptive and inferential statistics. This paper details a semester-long project that partners student groups with local businesses and organizations and serves as a platform to work on articulating technical statistics to a non-expert audience.

Keywords:

• Consultant
• project
• introductory statistics
• inference

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to extend a special thanks to Dr. Chris Lee and his organization Deaf Dogs Rock for their help on this project. He was an important part the design of the project and was very accessible for the students. Having such a good partner organization is what really made this project a success. For more information go to www.deafdogsrock.com to see what wonderful work they are doing.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Adam F. Childers

Adam F. Childers received his B.S. from James Madison University and his Ph.D. from Virginia Tech and is interested in making introductory statistics accessible and engaging for all students. His research is in the design of experiments and parameter estimation when data collection is limited by size. When he is not on campus, he enjoys running, cycling, tennis, and spending time with his wife and two sons.