Resource Library

Every careful measurement in science is always given with the probable error... every observer admits that he is likely wrong, and knows about how much wrong he is likely to be. This is a quote by Welsh Mathematician and philosopher Bertrand A.W. Russell (1872 - 1970). The quote may be found in his 1931 book "The Scientific Outlook" and is also found on the science history website www.todayinsci.com

...no good statistician existed unless he, or she, had been so involved in practical experimentation that they appreciated and understood the problems of the experimenter, the process worker, the farmer and the laboratory assistant. is a quote of British applied statistician Stella V. Cunliffe (1917 - 2012). The quote comes from her Presidential address on November 12, 1975 to the Royal Statistical Society (she was the first women to hold the position). The full presentation can be found in "JRSS series A" vol 139 p. 1-19 and contains many interesting examples from her years working at Guiness Brewery and for the government at the Home Office.

Care must be taken in planning experiments so that the differences to be examined for significance should be those which furnish an answer to the question which we are asking. is a quote from British statistician William Sealy Gosset (a.k.a. Student: 1876 - 1937). The quote appears in a 1931 letter to "Biometrika" in which he was addressing some criticism of his work by Karl Pearson.

... one of the main functions of an analogy or model is to suggest extensions of the theory by considering extensions of the analogy, since more is known about the analogy than is known about the subject matter of the theory itself. is a quote by English science philosopher Mary B. Hesse. The quote is found in her 1952 paper "Operational Definition and Analogy in Physical Theories" "British Journal for the Philosophy of Science" (1952).

An experiment is a question which science poses to Nature, and a measurement is the recording of Nature's answer. This is a quote by German Physicist Max Planck (1858 - 1947). The quote (translated into English in the book "Scientific Autobiography and Other Papers" page 110 (1949)

A sketch by Anastasia Mandel reinterpreting "Field with Flowers" by Vincent Willem van Gogh (1883) with the statistical caption "Experimental Design, decades before Fisher." This is part of a collection of sketches by Anastasia Mandel and their accompanying statistical captions written by Stan Lipovetsky and Igor Mandel that took first place in the cartoon & art category of the 2009 A-Mu-sing contest sponsored by CAUSE. The collection and their accompanying statistical captions discussed in the paper "How art helps to understand statistics" (Model Assisted Statistics and Applications, 2009) by Stan Lipovetsky and Igor Mandel in volume 4 pages 313-324. Free to use in classrooms and on course websites.

A sketch by Anastasia Mandel reinterpreting "Mont Sainte-Victoire" by Paul Cezanne (1898) with the statistical caption "A skewed distribution, but the same mountain (always look at things from different angles)." This is part of a collection of sketches by Anastasia Mandel and their accompanying statistical captions written by Stan Lipovetsky and Igor Mandel that took first place in the cartoon & art category of the 2009 A-Mu-sing contest sponsored by CAUSE. The collection and their accompanying statistical captions discussed in the paper "How art helps to understand statistics" (Model Assisted Statistics and Applications, 2009) by Stan Lipovetsky and Igor Mandel in volume 4 pages 313-324. Free to use in classrooms and on course websites.

June 23, 2009 Activity webinar presented and hosted by Leigh Slauson, Otterbein College. This webinar describes an activity that uses the playlist from an iPod music player to teach the concept of random selection, the various sampling techniques, and the use of simulation to estimate probability. The webinar includes a discussion of the background of this activity, the learning goals of the activity, how this activity can be adapted to different levels of technology, suggestions for assessment, and other supplemental reference materials. (handouts and other materials available for free download)

May 26, 2009 Activity webinar presented by Dennis Pearl, The Ohio State Unversity, and hosted by Leigh Slauson, Otterbein College. This webinar describes a computer lab activity using the Flash-based applet at www.causeweb.org/mouse_experiment to teach key principles regarding the value of random assignment. These include: 1) how it helps to eliminate bias when compared with a haphazard assignment process, 2) how it leads to a consistent pattern of results when repeated, and 3) how it makes the question of statistical significance interesting since differences between groups are either from treatment or by the luck of the draw. In this webinar, the activity is demonstrated along with a discussion of goals, context, background materials, class handouts, and assessments.

Always expect to find at least one error when you proofread your own statistics. If you don't, you are probably making the same mistake twice. Quote of american demographer Cheryl Russell appearing in "Rules of Thumb" by Tom Parker (Houghton Mifflin, 1983) p. 124. Also to be found in "Statistically Speaking the dictionary of quotations" compiled by Carl Gaither and Alma Cavazos-Gaither p. 81