Looking behind statistics

The skill of looking at statistics is a learned skill. Too often, people just take the numbers as is without trying to think deeper about what the statistics are telling them. The Economix blog on the New York Times posted the stats on marriage from the Census and how the different rates break down. A good exercise would be to have students look at the statistics try to figure out why they are the way they are. For example, why to people get married at different ages in different parts of the country.