A Simple App to Teach Regression

Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management Research Paper

15 Pages Posted: 10 Jan 2020 Last revised: 8 May 2021

Luke M. Froeb

Vanderbilt University - Owen Graduate School of Management

Date Written: December 30, 2020

Abstract

This paper introduces a simple, free web app for teaching regression that ``inverts'' the usual pedagogy. Rather than asking students to run regressions on data, it asks them to ``create'' data to achieve a given outcome, like a statistically significant line. By clicking on an (x, y) graph, students watch the regression line update with each mouse click, along with its confidence intervals and test statistics. The exercises presented in this paper are designed to give students an intuitive feel for the relationship between data and regression, and to teach them what regression can and cannot do.

Keywords: Teaching Regression; Causality vs. correlation, Differences Between Groups, Within Estimators

JEL Classification: A2 (Economic Education)

Suggested Citation:

Froeb, Luke M., A Simple App to Teach Regression (December 30, 2020). Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management Research Paper, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3507142 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3507142