The Enlightened Teacher

Lyrics © 2016 Amy Adler
May be sung to the tune of "Miss Susie Had a Steamboat"

Oh, once there was a teacher who wondered 'bout his class.
(Do they) smile at him to please him? Or like to learn 'bout stats?

So he set out to determine but didn't want to ask
Every single student -- that was too much of a task.

Instead he aimed to sample and interview some instead.
But how to do that properly? He thought out in his head.

He had to choose some students to represent the whole:
What things should he consider? What does he need to know?

How should he word the questions? And are there other facts,
That might affect the outcome? He needs to know all that.

Once he knows the questions and other relevant facts,
He can take a sample that represents the class.

But picking only certain ones, the result may go astray
Picking those who get straight A's may be a biased way.

Those who get straight A's might be more
Prone to answer in the same way and skew the results for sure.

To truly have the answer with high confidence,
A random sample when you can is generally the best.

So once he picked the sample -- he'd ask them one by one,
And then he'd calculate how many said "It's fun!"

He didn't want to call them or ask them face to face,
So he emailed and repeated 'till every poll took place.

He looked at the percentage who said that stats are great,
And felt the un-polled students should agree at that same rate.

So if he took a sample that represents the whole:
He can estimate how many are stats fans on his roll.