Wednesday, January 3, 2007

The data show: Historians outrank Political Scientists

...just don't read the fine print. But there sure is a nice table at eSolutionsData showing that "Historians are the Best Teachers," favored by 79% of students. The rest of the "data" show "English Professors is at 11%, Political Scientists is at 6%, Economists is at 3%, Biology Professors is at 2%. Clearly, this pattern indicates that more students rate historians as their favorite teachers." (It also may show that they need one of those English Professors to proof-read their copy.)

According to the website: "The research was done by eSolutionsData in 2006. Our research partners consist of top data firms worldwide. We hope you don't read until here because basically, the statistic above is totally fake. But it looks so authoritative that you can print it out anyway to carry it into the meeting to prove a point."

This is going around the history blogosphere, though Dr. History admits to making up the numbers, here. But if you don't like the data, you can make up your own. Be sure to check out their privacy policy.