Resource Library

A cartoon to be used in discussing the value of stratified sampling (or blocking in experiments) with diverse populations. The cartoon was used in the January 2017 CAUSE cartoon caption contest (see "The Elevator I" for the cartoon with the winning caption). This caption is a shortened version of a caption submitted anonymously to the contest. The cartoon was drawn by British cartoonist John Landers based on an idea from Dennis Pearl of Penn State University.

A cartoon to be used for discussing the history and use of statistics in polling. The cartoon was used in the October 2016 CAUSE Cartoon Caption Contest. The winning caption was submitted by Alan Russell from Elon University, while the drawing was created by John Landers using an idea from Dennis Pearl. A second winning caption "Thank you for being part of this Gallop Poll!" written by Larry Lesser from University of Texas at El Paso is well-suited for starting a conversation about the history and use of statistics in polling (see "Cartoon: The XYLOPH Survey I") Honorable mentions that rose to the top of the judging in the October caption contest included "XYLOPH Poll Results: A majority of the creatures on the green and blue planet are brown neigh-sayers" written by Anna Peterson from Iowa State University; "So your answer to the question, 'Do aliens exist?' would be Neigh?" written by Erin Hodgess of University of Houston; "Sorry 'neigh'bor ... I only participate in Gallop's surveys" written by Jeff Collier from LCM High School; and "Based on the findings of this survey all creatures on this planet must have 4 legs, a tail, and neigh in answer to any question..., how convenient that I met one of them on my first try!," written by Catharina Beussen, from Alisal High School.

A cartoon to be used for discussing the history and use of statistics in polling. The cartoon was used in the October 2016 CAUSE Cartoon Caption Contest. The winning caption was submitted by Larry Lesser from The University of Texas at El Paso, while the drawing was created by John Landers using an idea from Dennis Pearl. A second winning caption "If your sample isn't drawn correctly, it will be flawed even if it came straight from the horse's mouth!" was by Alan Russell from Elon University is well-suited for starting a conversation about of the importance of design in surveys.(see "Cartoon: The XYLOPH Survey II") Honorable mentions that rose to the top of the judging in the October caption contest included "XYLOPH Poll Results: A majority of the creatures on the green and blue planet are brown neigh-sayers" written by Anna Peterson from Iowa State University; "So your answer to the question, 'Do aliens exist?' would be Neigh?" written by Erin Hodgess of University of Houston; "Sorry 'neigh'bor ... I only participate in Gallop's surveys" written by Jeff Collier from LCM High School; and "Based on the findings of this survey all creatures on this planet must have 4 legs, a tail, and neigh in answer to any question..., how convenient that I met one of them on my first try!," written by Catharina Beussen, from Alisal High School.

A joke to use discussing the broad types of research that might go under the name "Survey". The joke was written by Larry Lesser (The University of Texas at El Paso) and Dennis Pearl (Penn State University).

A one-liner to be used in discussions about how the statistical profession is commonly ranked high in terms of factors like demand, job satisfaction, and salary (or about the difficulty in finding a valid measurement of prestige).

A short joke to be used in discussing the history of polls and the innovations brought to the field by George Gallup. The joke was written in 2016 by Larry Lesser, University of Texas at El Paso with assistance from Dennis Pearl.

"Psephologist" is a poem by Scottish poet Eveline Pye from Glasgow Caledonin University. The poem was originally published in the April 2015 issue of the Herald. "Psephologist" is about the importance of polling in understanding public opinion. The poem might be used in course discussions about the affect that polls in the media might have on public opinion.

The textbook, "Statistics: Unlocking the Power of Data," by Lock, Lock, Lock, Lock, and Lock, webpage has a collection of data sets which are used in their textbook. Even without the textbook, the variables are well named, and it is relatively easy to tell what the variables represent.

The STatistics Education Web, also called STEW, is an online collection of peer-reviewed statistics lesson plans for K-12 teachers. The web site is maintained by the ASA and accessible to K-12 teachers throughout the world. Lessons cover a wide range of probability and statistics topics.

This complete lesson plan, which includes assessments, is based upon a data set partially discussed in the article "Female Hurricanes are Deadlier than Male Hurricanes." The data set contains archival data on actual fatalities caused by hurricanes in the United States between 1950 and 2012. Students analyze and explore this hurricane data in order to formulate a question, design and implement a plan to collect data, analyze the data by measures and graphs, and interpret the results in the context of the original question.