Even trained statisticians often fail to appreciate the extent to which statistics are vitiated by the unrecorded assumptions of their interpreters is a quote by Irish playwright George Benard Shaw (1856 - 1950). The quote may be found in the author's preface to his 1906 play "The Doctor's Dilemma", that contains an essay on his views of statistics and quantitative literacy amongst the public.
CHANCE is copublished quarterly by the American Statistical Association and Springer Science + Business Media, LLC. The magazine is designed for anyone who has an interest in the analysis of data, informally highlighting sound statistical practice. CHANCE is not a technical magazine, but rather a cultural record of an evolving field, intended to entertain as well as inform. Since its creation in 1988, CHANCE has covered such topics as the 1990 census adjustment and the redesigned population survey, sports, the environment, DNA evidence in the courts, a variety of medical issues -- even how to win on "Jeopardy." -- CHANCE offers a unique opportunity to reach beyond statistics professionals to a more general audience.
A song parody to be sung about one's favorite statistics course. The lyrics won an honorable mention in the song category of the 2011 CAUSE A-Mu-sing contest and were written by Robert Carver of Stonehill College. The song may be sung to the tune of George and Ira Gershwin's 1937 classic "They Can't Take That Away from Me." Musical accompaniment realization and vocals are by Joshua Lintz from University of Texas at El Paso.
A poem useful in teaching aspects about hypothesis testing, especially the caveat that unimportant differences may be deemed significant with a large sample size. The poem was written by Mariam Hermiz, a student at University of Toronto, Mississauga in Fall 2010 as part of an assignment in a biometrics class taught by Helene Wagner. The poem was awarded first place in the poetry category of the 2011 CAUSE A-Mu-sing contest.
A Haiku about the meaning of significance by Dr. Nyaradzo Mvududu of the Seattle Pacific University School of Education. The poem was awarded a tie for second place in the 2011 CAUSE A-Mu-sing competition.
A song about the important contributions of Karl Pearson, Charles Spearmen, William S. Gosset, and Ronald Fisher. Lyrics written by Nyaradzo Mvududu from Seattle Pacific University. May sing to the tune of John Lennon's 1971 song "Imagine." The lyrics were awarded third place in the song category of the 2011 CAUSE A-Mu-sing competition. Musical accompaniment realization are by Joshua Lintz and vocals are by Mariana Sandoval from University of Texas at El Paso.
A poem by Notre Dame College Mathematics professor Anthony Masci. The poem was awarded an honorable mention in the 2011 CAUSE A-Mu-sing competition.
A song about examining the assumptions in statistical procedures especially dealing with skewed distributions. The lyrics were written by Robert Carver of Stonehill College and were awarded second place in the song category of the 2011 CAUSE A-Mu-sing competition. The song is a parody of the 1961 classic pop song "Runaround Sue" written by Ernie Maresca and Dion DiMucci and sung by Dion backed by the vocal group, The Del-Satins. Musical accompaniment realization and vocals are by Joshua Lintz from University of Texas at El Paso.
Three Haiku related to regression including the topics of checking assumptions, dealing with non-linear patterns, and partitioning sums of squares. The Haiku were written by Elizabeth Stasny of The Ohio State University and were awarded a tie for second place in the poetry category of the 2011 CAUSE A-Mu-sing competition.
A song for teaching ideas about hypothesis testing including interpretation of significance and the difference between significance and practical relevance. Lyrics written by Denise Tran, a student at University of Toronto, Mississauga in Fall 2010 as part of an assignment in a biometrics class taught by Helene Wagner. May be sung to the tune of the 2001 Grammy award winning song "Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)" by the rock band Train (Patrick Monahan, Robert Hotchkiss, James Stafford, Scott Underwood, and Charlie Colin). The song won first place in the song category and best overall entry in the 2011 CAUSE A-Mu-sing competition.