Resource Library

This joke can be used to motivate class discussions on the assumptions underlying drawing conclusions from data (especially the assumption of stationarity). The joke is a revision of a story in "The Angel's Dictionary: A modern tribute to Ambrose Bierce" by Edmund Volkart - also quoted in "Statistically Speaking: A dictionary of Quotations" by Carl Gaither and Alma Cavazos-Gaither (page 62). The revision (to make the story suitable for classroom use) was written by Dennis Pearl, The Ohio State University.

A cartoon that might be used in teaching about data quality issues. 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.

A cartoon to teach about the concept of independent versus dependent variables. 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.

A song about two-tailed tests for hypotheses about the mean that may be sung to the tune of the 1966 song "Break on Through (to the other side)" by the Doors. Lyrics by Dennis Pearl of The Ohio State University. Musical accompaniment realization and vocals are by Joshua Lintz from University of Texas at El Paso.

A cartoon to teach about efforts to improve data quality or about summarizing raw data using appropriate statistics and graphics. 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.

A cartoon to teach ideas of probability ad the Law of Large Numbers. 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.

I think the essential thing if you want to be a good statistician, as opposed to being a mathematician, is to talk to people and find out what they're doing and why they're doing it. is a quote from Florence Nightingale David (1909 - 1993). The quote appears at the end of an interview published in "Statistical Science" in 1989 (p. 235-246) in response to a question from Nan Laird asking for advice for practicing statisticians.

The errors which arise from the absence of facts are far more numerous and more durable than those which result from unsound reasoning respecting true data. is a quote by English Mathematician and inventor Charles Babbage (1791 - 1871). The quote is found on page 119 of his book "On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures" (1832)

Everything existing in the universe is the fruit of chance and necessity. is a quote by ancient Greek philosopher Democritus (460 B.C.E. - 360 B.C.E.).

This song describes the benefits of using a prior distribution to capture information already known about a topic under study. The lyrics are by Mark Glickman and may be sung to the tune of The Shocking Blue's 1969 song "Venus." The accomanying mp3 recording was produced on May 17, 2008 (Mark Glickman - vocal and guitar)