Resource Library

A cartoon for use in teaching about the Normal distribution. The cartoon was drawn by Australian epidemiologist Matthew Freeman of the Public Health Information Development Unit at the University of Adelaide. It is free for use on course websites or in the classroom provided author acknowledgement is given (e.g. leave copyright statement on the image). Commercial uses should contact the copyright holder. The cartoon was also published under the title "A visual comparison of normal and paranormal distributions" in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health (2006) 60(1):6

...making an appeal to the eye when proportion and magnitude are concerned, is the best and readiest method of conveying a distinct idea. is a quote by Scottish political economist William Playfair (1759 - 1823) often credited as the originator of statistical graphics. The quote is found in the preface to his 1801 book "The Statistical Breviary: Shewing, on a Principle Entirely New, The Resources of Every State and Kingdom in Europe" (the book where he introduced the piechart)

The conception of chance enters in the very first steps of scientific activity in virtue of the fact that no observation is absolutely correct. I think chance is a more fundamental conception that causality; for whether in a concrete case, a cause-effect relation holds or not can only be judged by applying the laws of chance to the observation. is a quote by German and British nobel prize winning physicist Max Born (1882 - 1970). The quote appears in his 1949 book "Natural Philosophy of Cause and Chance" published by Clarendon Press.

On this site, students can practice classifying statistics problems. They first click to check the statistical methods that they want to practice classifying. Then they click the "Submit" button to get a description of a research project that involves a statistical technique. Students then click on the technique that will most likely be used in the project. If they choose the incorrect answer, they must read the hint and try again. When they get something correct, they click on the "Next" button to try another problem.

Lest men suspect your tale untrue, Keep probability in view. is a quote by English poet and playwright John Gay (1685 - 1732). The quote is the first two lines of the poem "The Painter who pleased Nobody and Everybody," which is fable number 18 from the from the 1727 collection "Fables" volume 1.

There is no free hunch. is quote by American psychologist and political scientist Robert P. Abelson (1928 - 2005). The quote is found on page 142 of his 1995 book "Statistics as a Principled Argument". It is referred to as "Abelson's Sixth Law" in a discussion of the generalizability of estimated effects.

Indeed, the laws of chance are just as necessary as the causal laws themselves. is a quote of quantum physicist David J. Bohm (1917- 1992). The quote appears on page 23 of his 1957 book "Causality and Chance in Modern Physics". The quote also appears in "Statistically Speaking: A dictionary of quotations" compiled by Carl Gaither and Alma Cavazos-Gaither.

Cartoon to be used in talking about probability models (the process of drawing objects from an urn as a basic probability model goes back at least to Jacob Bernoulli's 1713 paper Ars conjectandi). 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 use in teaching about the dangers of extrapolation in the context of predicting the future. 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 use when talking about confidence intervals. 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.