Correlation does NOT imply Causation
There. Now that we have that important fact established, I give you: Gapminder!
tools.google.com/gapminder
This interactive graphing tool allows you to observe a wide range of correlations between demographic data from across the globe (courtesy of Google and www.gapminder.org).
I want everyone to check out this website and report back on the most interesting correlations you discover (IMPORTANT NOTE--for those who weren't paying attention before: Correlation does NOT imply Causation!!)
As you explore the tool, note that it is longitudinal so you can observe trends over time. You can select specific countries and observe only their changes over time. (For one striking and sad example, select South Africa, Botswana, and Zimbabwe, and see the devastating effect of HIV-AIDS on the average life expectancy in those nations.) You can choose from many different indicators on both the X and Y axes and alter many other characteristics of the graph.
I expect to be getting reports soon on things you have observed!
tools.google.com/gapminder
This interactive graphing tool allows you to observe a wide range of correlations between demographic data from across the globe (courtesy of Google and www.gapminder.org).
I want everyone to check out this website and report back on the most interesting correlations you discover (IMPORTANT NOTE--for those who weren't paying attention before: Correlation does NOT imply Causation!!)
As you explore the tool, note that it is longitudinal so you can observe trends over time. You can select specific countries and observe only their changes over time. (For one striking and sad example, select South Africa, Botswana, and Zimbabwe, and see the devastating effect of HIV-AIDS on the average life expectancy in those nations.) You can choose from many different indicators on both the X and Y axes and alter many other characteristics of the graph.
I expect to be getting reports soon on things you have observed!
posted by Ole at
5:37 PM
2 Comments:
This is such an amazingly cool tool. I'm pretty sure that Jessica and I are going to figure out a way to work it into EVERY SINGLE lecture from here on out.
By
Anonymous, At
8:46 AM
Try looking at Cambodia's life expectancy over time--it plummets from about 45 years in 1967 to about 31 years in 1977 (then skyrockets up to 52 years by 1982)! Talk about history in action.
Here's the link to this one:
http://tools.google.com/gapminder/#$majorMode=chart$is;shi=t;ly=2003;lb=f;il=t;fs=11;al=30;stl=t;st=t;nsl=t;se=t$wst;tts=C$ts;sp=6;ti=2004$zpv;v=1$inc_x;mmid=XCOORDS;iid=ti;by=ind$inc_y;mmid=YCOORDS;iid=SP.DYN.LE00.IN;by=ind$inc_s;uniValue=20;iid=SP.POP.TOTL;by=ind$inc_c;uniValue=255;gid=1004;iid=SP.POP.DPND;by=grp$map_x;scale=lin;dataMin=1960;dataMax=2004$map_y;scale=lin;dataMin=24;dataMax=82$map_s;sma=50;smi=1.2$inds=KHM_lGObiaU
By
Jessica, At
9:17 PM
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