How might statistics be manipulated to support a certain point of view?

I think the entire question of global warming is fascinating as an example of a quest for scientific truth. The subject under study is one that spans millennia yet the data that is studied for signs of change are generally of a century or far less. There are enormous interests advocating and funding the research on both sides. The operating principals of large complex systems such as climate are quite obscure. The ultimate implications of this research is literally world changing. So these are a few factors that manipulate available results:

1) The need to conclude certain things to obtain or retain funding.
2) The political/social pressure to believe certain ‘true’ things.
3) The critical nature of constructing experiments that reveal data meaningful to the question asked. For example, if oceans are or aren’t rising, does that tell anything beyond that fact?
4) The complexity of identifying causation. If the globe is warming, is that due to green house gasses or is it merely a normal fluctuation in the complex system.

Taking these questions as a subset of all the questions, it can be seen that they map exactly to questions in educational research.

1) There are vast and powerful interests in education (publishers, suppliers, politicians, unions, etc). Few of the established powers have interest in meaningful change.
2) Education is a VERY sensitive subject and it touches on societal issues that dwarf the question of education itself.
3) As NCLB demonstrated (at least to me), the exact definition of ‘the problem’ changes solutions and outcomes. The need to ‘verify’ acted at odds with the inherent need for flexibility and breadth in the classroom.
4) Our educational system is both an independent entity and a subset of our societal structure. Isolating ‘school’ performance from ‘societal’ performance in embracing children is nearly impossible.

Given this macro-environment of pressure, how might statistical manipulation take place in the microcosm?

1) Some studies will simply not be funded, depending on the prevailing power matrix.
2) Studies that don’t agree with the vested interest will be maligned, attacked, and/or ignored.
3) Studies will be structured to mine the data for favorable conclusions (or in the case of survey type studies, bias the answers by asking biased questions).
4) Mis-concluding causality.
5) Only the most favorable subset of the subject is chosen for study.
6) Studies which fail to prove the assertion are discarded as ‘flawed’ or ‘failed’.
7) And, not to be ruled out, data is falsified.

Finally, to be meaningful, research must have a context. Few single experiments or studies can meaningfully change behaviors by themselves. But both the promulgation and acceptance of research and the human process by which it is created and aggregated is subject to all the flaws of unscientific bias and blindness that we humans are heir to.

Give examples, if possible, from your own experience.

There is a well known experiment where young children are shown pictures of babies (a pleasant stimulus for them) and given a cord to pull to change those pictures. After that behavior is learned, the cord is unplugged to test the babies’ reaction to that frustration. The study demonstrated that girl babies are quicker to stop pulling the cord than boys. However, in a TV show on this subject, the announcer states something to the effect that ‘the girls are more likely to give up and cry, the boys just keep pulling harder and harder’. This is exactly the kind of thing that makes talking about gender differences SO hard. Obviously, the announcer’s conclusion is unscientific. Truth be told, the experiment only reports the data. The underlying cause of the different behavior is still unknown. Alternative conclusions might be that girls on average are quicker to pick up the pointlessness of pulling on the cord. There are other possible explanations, but the experiment only truly proves that on average boys and girls respond statistically differently under those circumstances. That is all that should be concluded.

This example is further afield, but in my time as a trading manager I watched as massive dollar amounts were shifted from future years into the current year, creating current profits upon which bonuses were paid. Of course, this resulted in impending losses in the future but that was a problem for a different year. But the companies reported these ‘profits’ as if they reflected a result consistent with the long term value of the company rather than a kind of borrowing from the future. Likewise, the very existence of ‘derivatives’ is a kind of statistics manipulation. A derivative is simply a contract that takes the place of a different, physical transaction. For example, could buy stock in GM (a physical transaction) or I could agree in a contract to exchange the value of the change in GM’s price over a specified period. Over that period, both have identical financial risk but they have totally different implications for a company’s balance sheet reporting, cash flow, and possibly risk reporting. Many derivative transactions are done purely for this reason, the impact reported financial statistics. In some cases, derivatives are used to shift profits from the future, as discussed above.

It is also interesting to me that when data is falsified, in finance, science or whatever, there is a strong tendency for the data that was true to be essential knowledge lost. When conclusions are mis-reported, it is often exactly the true conclusion that could change society for the better but that information is not revealed. This is a good lesson in why integrity in research is a paramount value.

  How can your effectiveness as a communicator reflect on your profession? 

A teacher is a pillar of the community. Parents and students look to them to be role models and examples of caring, competence and professionalism. We have already discussed that communication is essential to competence for teachers. Caring is not an innate distinction, it too needs to be expressed, communicated effectively. Finally, there is a credibility component of being a role model or leader. Effective communication is essential in this regard. It does little good to have internal competencies if they cannot be effectively reflected in the world. Communication is the portal from the internal to the external.

Why is it important to work with a variety of different personalities—and learning styles? How can we help others feel like they’re part of a team?

Like DQ1, this subject is a core element of being human. None of us live in isolation or work in isolation, nor would we want to. Working in teams, classrooms, families and communities inevitably means working with people of different personalities and learning styles. Given this, it is fortunate that we are all so very, wonderfully different.

Each person contributes a unique point of view. The solution each would choose will most likely be importantly or even entirely different from all the others. Even the avenues chosen to structure the solution might well be entirely different. And once the group collects the varied perspectives, approaches and solutions, that same diverse team provides the best combination of perspectives to structure an ideal solution.

Once a solution is reached, typically there is a further requirement of implementation. A diverse team is ideal for implementation as well. Each member of the team has a unique perspective on how the group’s plan will be received and might be best presented. In the receiving constituency, there will be similarly diverse humans, each receiving the solution in their own way, with their own perspective. Having a diverse group allows communication and implementation to be tailored individually, or at least tailored to narrower groups of individuals sharing a learning style, cultural perspective or other differentiating factor. Inevitably in any endeavor, there will be feedback, good and bad, and bumps in the road. Having a variety of personalities increases the group’s ability to fully assimilate the feedback or new information and respond in better harmony with the external situation.

Most importantly, being involved with a variety of personalities is FUN, energizing and creatively stimulating. it is the proverbial spice of life to encounter new and different histories, ideas, cultures, philosophies, brains and hearts.

When dealing with any team, especially a diverse one, it is critical to honor the humanity of each individual. We all want respect. We want our ideas to be honored, valued and, at least, in part included. Finally (and subtly for me), teams are not just goal driven. They are a community requiring an open heart and the inclusion of our essential humanity. The best teams are built from relationship to function. Building a team from relationship is the best way to make an integrated team. Integrated teams are the best; robust and highly functional.

  Why is it imporatnt for someone in your profession to have effective communication skills?

I believe strong communication skills are the central hub around which an effective, charismatic teacher is organized.

Teaching is impossible without communication. The simple view of teaching is that teaching is the conveying of information to students. More robustly, learning is a two way, interactive communication between students, individually and collectively, and their teacher. Perhaps most importantly and subtly, my experience and reading suggests that connection is the fuel that makes learning happen. Poor communication skills can hamstring or even destroy each of these elements in the delicate process of helping students to build learning.

But there is more to communication than effective use of the means of communication. One of the key reasons I am pursuing a M. Ed. is to better understand the mental process of learning. I expect that a central foundational element of this course of study is stages of child development. Likewise, I hope to better understand the concept of emotional intelligences and learning styles (e.g. auditory, visual, etc). I imagine there are other critical subjects I will study at UoPx to know how to structure the message I intend to communicate. Structuring the message and the interaction is also communication and it too is essential.

Finally, there is more to being a teacher than teaching. Teachers live in a community. They need to interact with administrators, who presumable have a major impact on the choices teachers are allowed to make. Building a solid community is essential to any fulfilled life. I envision that this is far more important in teaching. My goal would to be fully integrated into the teaching community at my hypothetical school. Strong relationships and open communications with my fellow teachers are what community is all about. Finally, it seems to me that every teacher should have an integrated strategy for each child fully articulated to and supported by the student’s parents. This is an ideal, but communication skills and abilities would none the less be a significant part of building a teacher/parent/student learning alliance. Communication is the fuel of community and learning is most effective in community.

Learning how to make effective communications is the core of teaching. Learning what content, tools, techniques, modalities, examples, etc to use is the art and science of teaching. Learning to interact effectively with the school community (fellow teachers, administrators and parents) is how to create an optimal environment around the classroom so that best learning can take place. Communication is underpinning of all education.