DEPARTMENT OF STATISTICS, LADY SHRI RAM COLLEGE FOR WOMEN

DEGREES OF FREEDOM
SESSION 2013-2014

FROM THE EDITORS DESK

And its yet another edition of Degrees of Freedom! We
bring to you our cover story on Social Media Insights
complete with the statistics on usage of the various
portals. Then there is the department survey regarding
opinions on homosexuality in lieu of the recent Supreme
Court order. We also offer a sneak-peek into the Gender
Survey carried out by the department that got nation-wide
coverage! So read, discover, enjoy.

Until next time,

The Editorial Board

FIRST LADY OF STATISTICS:

GERTRUDE COX
Gertrude Cox didn't intend to become a statistician. After
graduating from high school in 1918, she decided she
wanted to be a deaconess in the Methodist Episcopal
Church. Thinking that some knowledge of psychology
would help her she chose that subject in Iowa University.
However, she chose to major in mathematics as that
subject had come naturally to her in high school.
Encouraged by George Snedecor her professor, she went
on to study Statistics, receiving Iowa State's first Master's
degree in Statistics a couple of years later.
She taught the course Design of Experiments in Iowa
University. She also emphasized the need for
randomization and experimental controls, both still
uncommon at the time.
Cox went on to head many departments and institutes
throughout the southern US states, became president of
the American Statistical Association in 1956, and was a
founding member of the International Biometric Society.
After her official retirement, she set out to promote the
development of statistical programs in Thailand and
Egypt, and kept working as a consultant.

The science of statistics is the chief instrumentality through which the progress of
civilization is now measured, and by which its development hereafter will be largely
controlled." - S. N. D. North
 COVER STRORY: SOCIAL MEDIA INSIGHTS
COVER
STRORY: SOCIAL MEDIA INSIGHTS
Did you know that your grandmother was more likely to
be tweeting about the cookies that just came out of the
oven than you tweeting about the new season of 'How I
Met Your Mother'? Yes, you read that right. The
quinquagenarians(>50) of the world have been catching
up with social media trends at a surprising pace.
The fast-changing trends in social media have
transformed how people interact with each other,
foremost allowing people to widen their social spheres.
Twitter is an exchange platform where people share,
receive and express views on trending issues from
around the world, allowing them to connect with like-
minded individuals. Of course even people that we
know are brought closer to us via social media.
Through social media, a business establishment can
quickly and easily connect with potential customers and
gauge their response. Allowing the sharing of
announcements on the release of new products to giving
special discounts, and even providing free samples are
only some of the techniques adopted by these companies.
Customers also use social media to give their feedback to
the company, as well as share their opinions on products
and services with fellow followers.
From a small corner store to a large corporation, the right
kind of publicity through social media can pave the way
for a booming business!

From Cairo to Tripoli to Wall Street's Zuccotti Park,

social media has gravitated masses towards revolutions,
very often seeding them as well. Citizens have risen up
as united forces accelerating towards stronger, people-led
nations and renewed political constructs. It has redefined
social activism in several ways. Who could've imagined
an embittered fruit-seller on a Twitter rampage against
the government would unleash a silent weapon of
democracy in the land of Tunisia, setting ground for the
Arab Spring. Not far after, Twitter introduced a new
"voice-to-Twitter" service that allowed users to post by
merely calling a dedicated phone number. Thanks to
Google Translate, these messages from the protesting
streets of the Arab region soon became comprehendible
across the planet. Social media may not have been the
spark that set the fire, but it certainly provided the
oxygen that caused it to spread.

-AHELI ACHARYA AND PRERNA SAHA

 GENDER REPORT: ACADEMIC CONGRESS
This year a few students from the Department of Statistics were
extremely fortunate to be a part of the Gender Survey of Lady Shri
Ram College for Women. The survey, which was the first of its
kind by a college, gave unique insights into the gender perceptions
of the young women of LSR. The formal Gender Report was
released during the Academic Congress by the prolific activist and
feminist, Ms. Kamla Bhasin and Dr Rebecca Tavares, the United
Nations Womens Representative for South East Asia. It received
wide media coverage, with most national dailies carrying excerpts
from the report.
Our team consisted of Prerna Kannan, Mrinalini and Ananya
Agarwal from 3rd year and Aheli Acharya, Mamta Jain and Hitaishi
Arora from 2nd year along with the faulty in charge Dr. Anuradha
and Mr. Ashutosh Awasthi. Having never worked with real life
data before, this experience was extremely enriching and
rewarding. It made us realize the importance and utility of
Statistics in giving direction and meaning to numbers. The various
statistical tests we had only studied for the purpose of
examinations were finally being looked at from a different
perspective.
The entire work was divided into three stages: Data Collection,
Data Cleaning and Data Analysis. An online survey was conducted
for the students of LSR and at the end of one month a total of 1035
responses had been recorded. We then moved to the most tedious
and time consuming stage of the study which was cleaning and
sorting of the data. Once the data was rendered clean and uniform,
we carried out the data analysis using two-way and three-way Chi
Square tests, Odds ratio test, etc. on Excel and SPSS.

Working on this survey gave us hands on experience in dealing

with real data and applying Statistics to real life situations. It was
indeed a very fruitful experience for us budding Statisticians.

-ANANYA AGARWAL, AHELI AND PRERNA KANNAN

DEPARTMENT SURVEY: HOW TOLERANT ARE YOU?

As students of Statistics, we are often led to wonder how we make decisions or gauge emotions/perceptions by collecting and
studying data from a limited population (sample).
We ran a trial experiment in our Department to study and understand how aware our department is to the issue of
homosexuality.
Recently, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of the penal provision making gay sex an punishable offence
.We decided to take a look into what view our department held of the same.
What is homosexuality to you?
About 70% respondents believed homosexuality means physical attraction to a person of the same gender while 25% believed
its emotional attraction to a person of the same gender. Most of the respondents (around 90%) were in support of
homosexuality. This also translated into the sample unanimously disagreeing to the validity of the penal provision making gay
sex a punishable offense.
Almost 80% believe that the society does not play a bigger role than individual self in influencing preferences. Which is
surprising considering we generally think society is the most important factor in shaping ones choices/preferences.
The survey basically told us how the people will generally counter any decision which imposes a barrier to the personal
freedom of choice.
-PRERNA SAHA
 FOOD FOR THOUGHT
MOVIE REVIEW: QUEEN
Every now and then a movie so fine comes along that you cannot
help but stop and take notice.
Queen is one such path paving, idea inducing, and woman-
empowering movie.
The movie starts off with a simple, shy and young woman on her
Mehendi celebration night. You see her blushing and pondering
about her wedding night. Shortly afterwards she is ditched by her
freshly-returned-from-London fiance. He subtly hints that the
reason for this break-up is he being too advanced and modern
for her.
The story begins when Rani, our protagonist aka Queen, though
heart-broken decides to embark on her phoren honeymoon
alone. The Rajouri behenji travels through Europe only to
discover she has a spine after all.
This story of self-discovery, and self-acceptance connected with
its vast audience in many ways.
It breaks out from the many stereotypes that women in India have
to deal with.
We see and ignore the many Ranis in this world. Anyone who is
shy, lacking in confidence is immediately left out in the society.
Girls who adhere to everyones wishes, are innocent and try
blending with the wallpaper in social gatherings are immediately
laughed at and labeled.
This movie is indeed a love story but with a difference. Watch it
and fall in love with yourself and embrace the woman within.
-PRERNA
BATCH OF 2014
CREDITS: EDITORIAL BOARD, DEAPRTMENT OF STATISTICS
WEBSITE: www.statistics@weebly.com
BEING POSITIVE
FAILURE!
A small word which has different reactions, some get
motivated to work harder and some just give up.
For a student, the definition of failure varies. For some
getting less than 85% is a failure, for some scoring lesser
than their competition is failure and then for some the
word means failing literally.
Failing is not the end. Try to accept what comes your
way. Just remember one thing ' Nothing lasts forever, so
live it up, laugh it off, take chances and never have
regrets.
Live your life in such a way that even if failure comes to
you, you can accept it and learn from it.
Cry your heart out, shout till your throat hurts, do
whatever to flush it out of your system but the next day
shrug it off and move forward.
You may fail once, twice or maybe a hundred times but
learn from every mistake you make so that when you
reach the final stage of success EVERYTHING
SHOULD BE WORTH IT!
-SAUMYA GUPTA