Modeling: It’s Harder Than You Might Think!

Data mining and modeling are generally “hot topics” of late. Getting these “right” is not easy. (How often have you entered a search on Amazon and gotten totally unrelated items showing?) Even analyzing data from a “simple” experiment can be fraught with pitfalls and dangers. I believe students must walk before they can run, so modeling in my Intro courses starts slowly. My Introduction to Statistics II course has an assignment to use our software of choice, Minitab to model the “value” of houses in the Statesboro area. I’ll also discuss the challenges involved in an investigation modeling the rate of leaf decay under different conditions. The latter was a joint project involving a local high school STEM class, GSU Biology faculty, and myself.