Resource Library

This activity explains the important features of a distribution: shape, center, spread, and unusual features. It also covers how to determine the difference between mean and median, and their respective measures of spread, as well as when to apply them to a particular distribution. Graphical displays such as: histograms and boxplots are also introduced in this activity. The corresponding data set for this activity is found at the following web address: http://www.causeweb.org/repository/ACT/food.txt

A joke about the over-use of playing card examples in teaching probability.

That was why statistics had to be invented - because people were so unstable and irrational, taken one at a time. A quote of American science fiction author Raymond F. Jones (1915 - 1994) found in his 1956 short story "The Non-Statistical Man". The quote also appears in "Statistically Speaking: A dictionary of quotations" compiled by Carl Gaither and Alma Cavazos-Gaither.

Chance is only the measure of our ignorance. A quote from French mathematician and physicist Jules Henri Poincare (1854 - 1912) found in "The Foundations of Science", page 395, The Science Press, 1913. The quote also appears in "Statistically Speaking: A dictionary of quotations" compiled by Carl Gaither and Alma Cavazos-Gaither.

Statistics is the art of stating in precise terms that which one does not know. A quote by American Statistician William Henry Kruskal (1919 - 2005) in his article "Statistics, Moliere, and Henry Adams," in "American Scientist Magazine" (1967; vol. 55, page 417).The quote also appears in "Statistically Speaking: A dictionary of quotations" compiled by Carl Gaither and Alma Cavazos-Gaither.

Statistically Speaking is a 5 minute 35 second video that can be used in discussing various concepts in descriptive statistics. The video was written, directed, and produced by Cameron W. Hatch and the cast includes (order of appearance) Mala Grewal, Sally Atkinson, Griffin Hatch, Jeff Hatch, Matt Burnham, and Sylvia Burnham.

Song about the use of the 5-number summary to describe skewed data as an alternative to the mean and standard deviation. May be sung to the tune of the 1979 song "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor. Lyrics written by Sheila O'Leary Weaver. The song took first place in the song category in the 2007 A-Mu-Sing competition. Musical accompaniment realization are by Joshua Lintz and vocals are by Mariana Sandoval from University of Texas at El Paso.

Song contains concepts and terms associated with linear regression. May be sung to the tune of "I Walk the Line" (Johnny Cash). Musical accompaniment realization and vocals are by Joshua Lintz from University of Texas at El Paso.

A song about the fit of linear regression, describing the difference between observed and fitted values and related aspects. May be sung to the tune of "Mexican Hat Dance" (traditional). Recorded June 26, 2009 at the OSU Whisper Room: Larry Lesser, vocals/guitar; Justin Slauson, engineer. This song is part of an NSF-funded library of interactive songs that involved students creating responses to prompts that are then included in the lyrics (see www.causeweb.org/smiles for the interactive version of the song, a short reading covering the topic, and an assessment item).

The invalid assumption that correlation implies cause is probably among the two or three most serious and common errors of human reasoning is a quote by American evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould (1941 - 2002). The quote is found in Gould's book "The Mismeasure of Man" ( 2nd edition, p.242, W.W. Norton Publishing, 1996).