Group (alphabetical by leader name in boldface)

Summary (Short Title)

Outcome

Ned Bartlett, Karl Rodger, Andy Battle

Meta-analysis of two blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) studies from textbook CD

Students normalized one of the prior studies’ data by weight, compared the two studies, drew plausible curves to explain the underlying mechanisms, and compared BAC values predicted by these curves to those from a BAC lookup table found on the Web.

Mike Callaghan, John Goodell, Gene Hsu, Carlos Kim

Head size vs. SAT score

No linear correlation found.

Poya Daneshpour, Peter Feldman, Adam Teslik

Calculator game playing vs. math performance

Essentially no linear correlation found between weekly calculator game playing time and average in math classes. However, students kept digging and discovered a surprising positive linear correlation in the mean trace of data grouped by game title. Implication is that the type of game is a lurking variable in deciding whether game playing is associated with math average. There is a hint that difficult calculator games played for many hours per week may be indicative of someone who is very good at math.

Dan Pearson, Matt Nowak, Chris Rubin

Body weight vs. stated tolerance for alcohol

No correlation found, other than what can be explained by gender difference.

Andrew Steel, Blake Sparrow, Will Scott

Grip strength vs. wrist muscle circumference, height, weight, and age

Strongest linear correlation was with wrist circumference. Relative grip strength was estimated by counting repetitions on a grip exerciser in a fixed time interval.

Matt Steyer, Adam Hundt, Doug Bemis

Son’s height as predicted by mother’s height and father’s height (considered separately)

Linear correlation between height of fathers and sons was much stronger than that between height of mothers and sons.

Aaron Stringfellow, Gabriel Somarriba, John Neil Thompson

Lung capacity vs. height, weight, gender, sports participation, and smoking

Not enough data to suggest a smoking-related association. Paper discussed the other associations and speculated on possible causal links. Students used lung-capacity apparatus borrowed from the STA science department.

Randy Wellington, Chris Martin, Alex Simpson

NFL quarterback salary vs. draft pick sequence

Weak positive (!) linear correlation found when all data are aggregated. Individual year classes show different trends in several cases. Paper discussed possible lurking variables and explained why salaries cannot be predicted by draft order.