Data Collection

  • The statistician who supposes that his main contribution to the planning of an experiment will involve statistical theory, finds repeatedly that he makes his most valuable contribution simply by persuading the investigator to explain why he wishes to do the experiment, by persuading him to justify the experimental treatments, and to explain why it is that the experiment, when completed, will assist him in his research. A quote from American statistician, and founder of the North Carolina State University Department of Statistics, Gertrude Cox (1900-1978). The quote is from a speech delivered at the Department of Agriculture in Washington D.C. on January 11th, 1950. The quote also appears in Chapter 1 of W.E. Deming's 1960 book "Sample Design in Business Research".

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  • A set of twenty statistics anagrams that might be used for an end of semester terminology review. This collection of anagrams appeared in the article "Even More Fun Learning Stats" by Lawrence M. Lesser in issue #49 (2007) of "Stats" magazine (pp.5-8,19, 27).

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  • Oops! ... I Picked the Wrong Test is a 4 minute, 12 second video that provides a fun review of common mistakes made in conducting hypothesis tests. The video was first sung for students in a Psychology class at the University of Oregon. The singer is Jennifer Simonds, Ph.D. of Westminster College in Salt Lake City Utah (where the video was filmed). The song is a parody of "Oops ... I did it again" by Britney Spears (2000). Characters: Britney Spearman - Jennifer Simonds, Chuck - Chuck Tate, Frustrated Professor - Bill Bynum, Dancers - Cressa Perloff (dance captain), Kathleen Ware, and Mariah Mercer. Credits: Lyrics, vocals, directions, and production by Jennifer Simonds; Recording and Sound Engineering by Ted Sablay; Final Cut Consulting by Zelda Randazzo; Audio Sync Assistance by Lizzie Randazzo; Camera Work and Props by Amy Fairchild. This video won the overall Grand Prize in the 2009 CAUSE A-Mu-sing contest.

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  • For the biologist who doubts an old hypothesis or wishes to test out a new one, there is the biological laboratory. There, under conditions over which he can exercise the most rigid control, he can vary the light, the air, the food, which his plants or his animals receive, from the moment of birth throughout their lifetime. Keeping all the conditions but one constant, he can make accurate measurement of the effect of the one. This is the ideal method of science, the method of the controlled experiment, through which all hypotheses may be submitted to a strict objective test. ... Unfortunately such methods of experiment are denied to us when our materials are humanity and the whole fabric of a social order. This is a quote from American cultural anthropologist Margaret Mead (1901-1978) from the introduction to the 1973 edition of her 1929 book "Coming of Age in Samoa: A Psychological Study of Primitive Youth for Western Civilization".

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  • These three haikus were written as part of an activity in Paul Roback's introductory statistics class at St. Olaf College in February, 2009 ("World of chaos" by Carolyn Raitt; "Reality bites" by Hannah Johnson; "Is it you or me" by Nicole Villa). As a collection, the haikus won first place in the poetry category of the 2009 A-Mu-sing competition. The entire class is shown in this picture: http://www.causeweb.org/resources/fun/pics/Roback_class.jpg

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  • A joke about the economic value of a degree in the applied mathematical sciences compared to a more theoretical degree.

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  • A cartoon to teach about one difficulty in conducting education research arising from problems in obtaining reliable and valid endpoints. Cartoon by John Landers (www.landers.co.uk) based on an idea from Dennis Pearl (The Ohio State University). Free to use in the classroom and on course web sites.

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  • A cartoon to teach about one difficulty in conducting medical research compared to education research arising from problems in obtaining informed consent from subjects. Cartoon by John Landers (www.landers.co.uk) based on an idea from Dennis Pearl (The Ohio State University). Free to use in the classroom and on course web sites.

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  • Song advocating a preference for Bayesian inferential procedures. May sing to the tune of Neil Diamond's 1966 song "I'm a Believer" made popular by the Monkees. Lyrics by Bradley Carlin (2002). Free to use for non-commercial educational purposes. Contact author to use in publications or for commercial purposes. Accompanying musical track was recorded Sunday September 16, 2002. The lyrics were written by Brad for the Valencia 7 conference, Tenerife, Spain, June 2002;and was first performed there by the Bayesian Band (Brad Carlin, Mark Glickman, and David Heckerman). The lyrics may be found in volume 37, issue 1 of "IMS Bulletin" and in the "Bayesian Songbook" (www.biostat.umn.edu/~brad/cabaret.html).

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  • Doubt is not an agreeable condition, but certainty is an absurd one, a quote by French Philosopher Francois-Marie Arouet (1694 - 1778), more commonly known by his pen name Voltaire. The quote appeared in a letter to Frederick II of Prussia in 1767.

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