Resource Library

A quote to initiate a discussion about critiquing statistical issues in public policy statements seen in the media. The quote is from American writer and public policy researcher Kathleen Geier (1963 - ) and may be found in her article "On the importance of statistical literacy," in Washington Monthly May 12, 2012.

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

A quote to motivate discussions of the importance of statistics for critical thinking. The quote is by Deborah J. Rumsey (1961 - ), The Ohio State University. The quote appears in Chapter 1 page 10 of her book, Statistics For Dummies 2nd edition, 2011

This site has the data and shows the code you would use to replicate the examples in Applied Longitudinal Data Analysis: Modeling Change and Event Occurrence, by Judith D. Singer and John B. Willett. It has code in SAS, R, Stata, SPSS, HLM, MLwiN, and Mplus.

A cartoon to be used in discussing the value of stratified sampling (or blocking in experiments) with diverse populations. The cartoon was used in the January 2017 CAUSE cartoon caption contest (see "The Elevator I" for the cartoon with the winning caption). This caption is a shortened version of a caption submitted anonymously to the contest. The cartoon was drawn by British cartoonist John Landers based on an idea from Dennis Pearl of Penn State University.

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.

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.

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).

A one-liner to be used in discussions about how the statistical profession is commonly ranked high in terms of factors like demand, job satisfaction, and salary (or about the difficulty in finding a valid measurement of prestige).

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.