Correlated
Authors: Shaun Gallagher
A PERIGEE BOOK
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CORRELATED
Copyright © 2014 by Shaun Gallagher
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eBook ISBN: 978-1-101-59970-9
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First edition: July 2014
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To all those who have joined in the fun at Correlated.org.
If you've ever wondered whether iPod owners are more likely to stir their drinks counterclockwise, whether nonfiction lovers are more likely to have a positive opinion about France, or whether tea drinkers are more likely to prefer mechanical pencils, then this is the book for you!
The data that underpin the statistics you'll find in this book come from Correlated.org, a website devoted to uncovering surprising correlations between seemingly unrelated things.
Each day, a new poll question is posted on the site, and at the end of the day, the poll responses are tallied up and compared with the results of every previous poll to find the two responses with the strongest correlation.
For this book, I've taken Correlated.org's large data setâ1,089,173 poll responses from 36,305 respondentsâand generated all-new statistics in which the results of each poll were compared not only with previous polls but with the entirety of the available data. For the 182 topics chosen for inclusion in the book, the median sample size was 2,290 and the mean sample size was 2,222.
Although the statistics in this book are all based on real data, the methodology by which the correlations are generated is not intended to stand up to professional scrutiny. (In fact, it would probably make a professional statistician weep.) Rather, the correlations are intended to be amusing and thought provoking, and to illustrate some of the absurdities that result when you ignore tricky concepts such as confounding variables or the multiple-testing problem.
I hope you enjoy the surprising statistics presented here, and I hope you'll join the thousands of others who help generate new correlations by contributing to Correlated.org.
40%
of people have boycotted a company.
But among those who consider music from the '80s to be oldies,
52%
have boycotted a company.
----------------
53%
of people are Foo Fighters fans.
But among those who consider music from the '80s to be oldies, only
41%
are Foo Fighters fans.
----------------
70%
of people are adept at using chopsticks.
But among those who consider music from the '80s to be oldies, only
58%
are adept at using chopsticks.
You're extremely likely to consider music from the '80s to be oldies if you both:
- always wash your hands after using a public restroom
- prefer Jake Gyllenhaal's movies to Maggie Gyllenhaal's
People who consider music from the '80s to be oldies are almost exactly as likely as the average person to:
- have been involved in student government
- dislike honey-mustard sauce
- have a nine-to-five type of job
38%
of people have had a poison ivy rash.
But among those who belong to AAA,
54%
have had a poison ivy rash.
----------------
77%
of people say that if a person dislikes them, it's generally because they don't know “the real me.”
But among those who belong to AAA,
89%
say that if a person dislikes them, it's generally because they don't know “the real me.”
----------------
29%
of people have visited a chiropractor.
But among those who belong to AAA,
40%
have visited a chiropractor.
You're extremely likely to belong to AAA if you both:
- prefer a hot breakfast over a cold breakfast
- consider yourself more generous than the average person
People who belong to AAA are almost exactly as likely as the average person to:
- prefer Google Chrome as their browser
- say they'd agree to work a midnight-to-8-a.m. shift for the next 10 years if the pay were $1 million a year
- have never had asthma