Sampling & Survey Issues

  • A poem to illustrate the dependence between trials when sampling is without replacement. To set this poem up in the classroom, you might ask the students questions like: "If I want to put the Supreme Court Justices in a random order, I can pick one at a time without replacement. Before I pick the first Justice, do I know who it's going to be? Before I pick the last Justice, do I know who it's going to be?" The poem was written in 2017 by Larry Lesser from The University of Texas at El Paso.
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  • 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).
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  • 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.
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  • 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.
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  • A song to encourage students to use critical thinking skills in evaluating a statistic published in the media. The 2002 JSM paper (http://www.statlit.org/pdf/2002BestASA.pdf) of sociologist Joel Best and feedback from Milo Schield gave Lawrence Lesser (The University of Texas at El Paso) inspiration to explore what it means to say statistics are socially constructed. The song is a parody of the Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." The lyrics were originally published in the August 2016 Amstat News. Audio of the parody was produced and sung by students in the commercial music program of The University of Texas at El Paso.

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  • A quote to initiate a discussion of sampling and the value of randomization in avoiding bias. The quote is by economist and blogger Jaana M Goodrich (1955 - ) writing in her blog under the pseudonym Echidne of the Snakes. The quote is found at http://echidneofthesnakes.blogspot.com/2005/01/exit-polls-make-my-heart-beat-faster.html
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  • A song to be used in discussions of the problems and challenges with modern polling (e.g. the use of Robo calling contact methods and the very low response rates making weighting to avoid bias more crucial than sampling variability issues). The lyrics were written in 2016 by Dennis Pearl from Penn State University and Lawrence Lesser from University of Texas at El Paso. The song may be sung to the tune of Bob Seger's 1978 hit "Old Time Rock and Roll." Musical accompaniment realization and vocals are by Joshua Lintz from University of Texas at El Paso.
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  • "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.
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  • 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.
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  • I know there are some polls out there saying this man has a 32% approval rating. But guys like us, we don't pay attention to the polls. We know that polls are just a collection of statistics that reflect what people are thinking in reality. And reality has a well-known liberal bias. is a quote by American political satirist Stephen Tyrone Colbert (1964 - ). The quote is from a performance on April 29, 2006 at the annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner.

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