Occupations
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Occupations
I did a little project of my own to see what are the most common occupations that Jeopardy! contestants report. I had my hunches, but I wanted to do at least a little study to see if my hunches were correct. I realize that 255 contestants is not a terribly big sample size, and results may be very different if I carried this out to thousands of contestants, but this was just my fun little thing. Keep in mind I'm not a statistician or demographer, so don't place too much importance on this. Also, this is just from Sep 2013 to May 2014.
For business-related jobs, for those sub-jobs that are fairly common, like sales or marketing or accounting, I listed them separately. All others I put in the Business/Management/Consulting group. And ALL students, regardless of type (medical, law, business, graduate, undergraduate, etc), I put in the Students group.
I was a little surprised that the "Writer/Publisher" group had as many representatives as it did, and that the "Medicine/Nursing/Health Care" group had as few as they did.
Educator/Administration/Tutor 39
Lawyer/Paralegal 28
Student 27
Writer/Publisher/Editor/Video Producer 24
Business/Management/Consulting 15
IT/IM/CompSci/Internet 12
Librarian/Museum 11
Retail Jobs/Service Jobs 10
Engineer/Compliance/Architect 9
Scientist/Lab Tech/Researcher 8
Government/Social Work/Foreign Service 8
Medicine/Nursing/Health Care Jobs 6
Communications 5
Non-Profit 5
Human Resources 5
Military/retired military 5
Marketing 4
Household employment/Stay-at-home parent 4
Accounting/Controller 4
Entertainment/Acting/Radio 4
Actuary/Statistician/Mathematician 3
Firefighter/Law Enforcement/Security 3
Journalist 3
Musician/Singer 3
Artist 2
Construction 2
Airlines/Travel 2
Sales 2
Clergy 1
Veterinarian 1
255
For business-related jobs, for those sub-jobs that are fairly common, like sales or marketing or accounting, I listed them separately. All others I put in the Business/Management/Consulting group. And ALL students, regardless of type (medical, law, business, graduate, undergraduate, etc), I put in the Students group.
I was a little surprised that the "Writer/Publisher" group had as many representatives as it did, and that the "Medicine/Nursing/Health Care" group had as few as they did.
Educator/Administration/Tutor 39
Lawyer/Paralegal 28
Student 27
Writer/Publisher/Editor/Video Producer 24
Business/Management/Consulting 15
IT/IM/CompSci/Internet 12
Librarian/Museum 11
Retail Jobs/Service Jobs 10
Engineer/Compliance/Architect 9
Scientist/Lab Tech/Researcher 8
Government/Social Work/Foreign Service 8
Medicine/Nursing/Health Care Jobs 6
Communications 5
Non-Profit 5
Human Resources 5
Military/retired military 5
Marketing 4
Household employment/Stay-at-home parent 4
Accounting/Controller 4
Entertainment/Acting/Radio 4
Actuary/Statistician/Mathematician 3
Firefighter/Law Enforcement/Security 3
Journalist 3
Musician/Singer 3
Artist 2
Construction 2
Airlines/Travel 2
Sales 2
Clergy 1
Veterinarian 1
255
- jfrumkin
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Re: Occupations
Interesting. There's cross-over, too. I'm non-profit, but would also fit into business. I'm sure there are people who would fit more than two categories.
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- TheyCallMeMrKid
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Re: Occupations
I'm too lazy to go back and look it up, but didn't someone say on another thread this week that they claimed to be a "writer" so they didn't have to actually admit the crappy job from which they are actually drawing a paycheck?jeopardyhopeful wrote: I was a little surprised that the "Writer/Publisher" group had as many representatives as it did,
Perhaps if there were more physiology questions, and fewer 17th century literature questions?jeopardyhopeful wrote: and that the "Medicine/Nursing/Health Care" group had as few as they did.
Sure, they have a whole week dedicated just to them!jeopardyhopeful wrote: Educator/Administration/Tutor 39
Sheepin' it real.
- Leah
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Re: Occupations
What's Compliance doing with Engineer and Architect?
- BobF
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Re: Occupations
Students alsoTheyCallMeMrKid wrote:Sure, they have a whole week dedicated just to them!jeopardyhopeful wrote: Educator/Administration/Tutor 39
Student 27
Was once hugged by Maggie Speak!
- This Is Kirk!
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Re: Occupations
When Peter Dyakowski appeared last week I was wondering if he's the first professional athlete to appear in a normal Jeopardy! game. Anyone know?
- MarkBarrett
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Re: Occupations
I put "professional" into the archive search box. How far are we willing to stretch the term of professional athlete?This Is Kirk! wrote:When Peter Dyakowski appeared last week I was wondering if he's the first professional athlete to appear in a normal Jeopardy! game. Anyone know?
http://www.j-archive.com/showplayer.php?player_id=8635
http://www.j-archive.com/showplayer.php?player_id=6607
- This Is Kirk!
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Re: Occupations
"Not THAT far" is both cases!MarkBarrett wrote:I put "professional" into the archive search box. How far are we willing to stretch the term of professional athlete?
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Re: Occupations
Oh, just to be clear, I did not include data from the Teachers' Tournament (or Teen Tournament). So that number of educators is from the regular shows only.
- BobF
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Re: Occupations
It would be cool if they could get Matt Birk (Harvard grad who retired from the Ravens after their Super Bowl win). Though not if it means bumping me.This Is Kirk! wrote:When Peter Dyakowski appeared last week I was wondering if he's the first professional athlete to appear in a normal Jeopardy! game. Anyone know?
Was once hugged by Maggie Speak!
- zakharov
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Re: Occupations
If only I weren't quitting my non-profit job to go back to school...
4-time pool swimmer - last audition June 2019
Follow me on Twitter @JakeMHS
Follow me on Twitter @JakeMHS
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Re: Occupations
How did you categorize Amy "aspiring student" Nienaber?
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Re: Occupations
"Student".How did you categorize Amy "aspiring student" Nienaber?
- the_phil
- 60% or Bust
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Re: Occupations
I wondered the same thing. They're dramatically different.Leah wrote:What's Compliance doing with Engineer and Architect?
- cinemaniax7
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Re: Occupations
Writer, publisher, editor . . . video producer?
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Re: Occupations
I think there was one contestant who was a video producer of documentaries. Admittedly, I could have put it into a different group, and I struggled with this one, but eventually I had to classify it while trying to keep the number of groups manageable. Same thing with Engineer/Architect. They both design things, and the things they design are certainly different, but again...choices. I could have hundreds of groups, but I wanted an overall sense of occupation without getting too specific. I don't envy demographers or people involved in the census for having to do this sort of thing.