This post is actually about studying statistics. It is not about polls or the misuse of data or anything remotely political. No foolin'.
My older son, David Ricardo Palmer, is currently taking an online statistics course. When I learned about it, I suggested that maybe I could do some of the work alongside and along with him because I'd like to relearn statistics. No foolin'.
I studied a fair amount of statistics as a student: one course as an undergrad (in which I received a gentlemen's C-), and at least five courses as a graduate student. At several times, I put in to teach the "intro statistics for economists" course at The University of Western Ontario just so I could relearn statistics.
That never happened, though, and after nearly 83 years since last studying the topic, I figured my statistics tools had become a tad rusty.
Times have changed since I studied statistics.
First, for an MBA course they don't mess about with calculus proofs of existence or discussing the properties of estimators. It's a cookbook course, which I think is wise. I had a two-term cookbook course in gradskool, and it was the only one that stuck with me at all.
Second, back then we had to do all our calculations with pencil and paper or with hand-crank calculators. No foolin'. Nowadays, students are expected to use Excel. That's both good and bad. It's good because it saves them from the drudgery of performing endless calculations (e.g. to invert a 3x3 matrix). It's bad because Excel spits out answers and students don't really get a good grasp of the intuition, the understanding of the statistical tests and what they mean or how to interpret them.
Overall, it's fun. No foolin'.
And a special bonus: I get to spend more time with my son!