A joke to help in a discussion of how a well designed experiment helps to reduce the variance of the response variable. The Joke was written by Larry Lesser (The University of Texas at El Paso) and Dennis Pearl (Penn State University) in Februrary 2021.
Note - when the joke is spoken there is no need to say the parenthetical part - simply pronounce the word "variants" to sound like "variance".
A poem to help in discussing matched-pair designs. UTEP Professor Larry Lesser wrote this poem on February 1, 2021, using end-rhyme couplets to convey (literally and figuratively) tradeoffs of a design with matched pairs. Note that the rhymes are not always perfect, a reflection of how it can be impossible to match subjects perfectly. Also note how the would-be final couplet is ruined by losing its second line, just as you effectively lose two subjects when one subject in a pair chooses to drop out of your study.
A cartoon that can be used to motivate the importance of statistics in making decisions. The cartoon was used in the January 2020 CAUSE cartoon caption contest and the winning caption was written by Douglas VanDerwerken, an instructor at the United States Naval Academy. The cartoon was drawn by British cartoonist John Landers (www.landers.co.uk) based on an idea by Dennis Pearl from Penn State University.
A joke to facilitate discussion of random assignment in an experiment. The joke was written by Larry Lesser from The University of Texas at El Paso in May, 2020.
A joke to use in presentations about the importance of control and replication in experimentation. The joke was written by Larry Lesser (The University of Texas at El Paso) and Dennis Pearl (Penn State University) in March 2020.
A joke to help in discussions of the value of random assignment in experiments and in discussing pedagogical options. The joke was written by Larry Lesser from The University of Texas at El Paso in February 2020.
A joke to help discuss how random assignment is an unbiased experimental method. The joke was written by Dennis Pearl from Penn State University in February 2020.
A poem written in 2019 by Larry Lesser from The University of Texas at El Paso to introduce the concept of Latin squares. Be prepared to explain the meaning of the word “Latinx” in case some students don’t recognize it. The poem is part of a collection of 8 poems published with commentary in the January 2020 issue of Journal of Humanistic Mathematics.
A cartoon to illustrate the value of statistics in the design and analysis of animal models in medical research. The cartoon was drawn in 2013 by British cartoonist John Landers based on an idea by Dennis Pearl from Ohio State University. This item is part of the cartoons and readings from the “World Without Statistics” series that provided cartoons and readings on important applications of statistics created for celebration of 2013 International Year of Statistics. The series may be found at https://online.stat.psu.edu/stat100/lesson/1/1.4
A cartoon to provide a nice avenue for facilitating discussions of planning for adequate sample sizes in experiments.The cartoon was used in the October, 2017 CAUSE cartoon caption contest and the winning caption was written by Greg Snow from Grigham Young University. The cartoon was drawn by British cartoonist John Landers (www.landers.co.uk) based on an idea by Dennis Pearl from Penn State University.