A Simple Way to Teach Regression

Abstract

LearnRegression.com is free web app that teaches regression quickly and easily by “inverting” the usual pedagogy: instead of asking users to run regressions on data, it asks them to “create” data by clicking on a graph to achieve a given outcome, like a statistically significant line. By trial and error, students learn by doing, and gain an intuitive feel for the relationship between data and statistical outcomes. This paper describes exercises that teach: (i) the link between hypothesis testing, confidence regions, and statistical significance, (ii) the difference between correlation and causality, and (iii) how to diagnose functional form misspecification. The exercises take about 5-10 minutes to complete and can be used in-class or assigned as homework. Successful completion of each task is rewarded with feedback that reveals the learning objective.

Keywords: Teaching Regression; statistical significance; correlation vs. causality

JEL Classification: A2 (Economic Education)