Help me choose a paper for my stats class

[Schizo]

I am in a 400 level stats class where most of the people are Masters/Ph.D. students. We need to analyze a good statistics paper, talk about methodology, critique, etc. We don't need too much math focus is more on was it a good stufy or not, are confounding variables taken care of, assumptions reasonable, etc.

They are supposed to come from:

Quarterly Journal of Economics
American Sociological Review
American Journal of Socialogy
American Journal of Political Science
American Political Science Review

Any recommendations/guidlines?

Thanks for the help in advance.

[SossMan]

coming from a Stats/Econ major, I would stay away from the QJoE unless you are comfortable with major league econometrics. Pick something fluffy like Poly Sci.

[Civiliste]

Econ grad here too. And previous poster is correct. QJoE will be hard to grasp without a strong background in experimental and descriptive statistics, and a good familiarity with the use of statistics in econometrics.

That said, and if I understand that your aim is to analyze the study itself, and not reach some experimental results, I would go with one of the sociology journals. The conditions and assertions will probably be a little easier to understand, and the experiments and theories promulgated will be easier to follow.

Just my .02,
-Zak

edit: Just re-read OP, and caught the language '...assumptions reasonable...'. If you are analyzing the reasonableness of experimental assumptions, STAY AS FAR AWAY AS POSSIBLE FROM ANYTHING DEALING WITH ECONOMICS!!! Seriously...

[A_PLUS]

another econ grad student, and I 3rd the notion.

If I ever read a non economics journal, I find myself thinking, "wow...academic articles can actually make sense"

[jimdmcevoy]

[ QUOTE ]
QJoE will be hard to grasp without a strong background in experimental and descriptive statistics

[/ QUOTE ]

what the hell is experimental statistics?

[Civiliste]

[ QUOTE ]
what the hell is experimental statistics?

[/ QUOTE ]

A hokey misnomer, referring to descriptive statistics employed for purposes of controlled experimentation.

See what happens after only a year in law school? You can't even speak proper English anymore... only legalese, which uses redundant and oft invented adjectives/adverbs.

[Schizo]

Editing first post:

I guess we can use any published article as long as it's a decent one and uses statistical analysis.