Resource Library

Tutorial on the ANOVA test in statistics and probability, with a description, formulas, example, and a calculator applet. This is part of the larger site Virtual Statistician at http://web.mst.edu/~psyworld/virtualstat.htm

November 24, 2009 Activity webinar presented by Carl Lee, Central Michigan University, and hosted by Leigh Slauson, Capital University. This webinar introduces a real-time online hands-on activity database for teaching introductory statistics. One particular activity, "How well can hand size predict height?", is used to engage students with a real-time activity in order to learn bivariate relationships. Various other activities can be found at stat.cst.cmich.edu/statact. The real-time database approach speeds up the process of data gathering and shifts the focus in order to engage students in the process of data production and statistical investigation.

In this game activity, students match correlation values with plots generated by the applet. Competition in this game setting encourages students to become more involved in the classroom and attainment of learning objectives. This game is best if used in a lab setting, although it may be modified to fit other classroom situations.

This activity begins with an instructor demonstration followed by a student out-of-class assignment. Students will observe their instructor create a scatterplot and observe how the correlation coefficient changes when outlier points are added. Students are then given a follow up assignment, which guides them through the applet. In addition, the assignment provides insight about outliers and their effect on correlation. This activity will show exactly how outliers numerically change the correlation coefficient value and to what degree.

This visualization activity combines student data collection with the use of an applet to enhance the understanding of the distributions of slope and intercept in simple linear regression models. The applet simulates a linear regression plot and the corresponding intercept and slope histograms. The program allows the user to change settings such as slope, standard deviation, sample size, and more. Students will then see theoretical distributions of the slope and intercept and how they compare to the histograms generated by the simulated linear regression lines.

This in-class demonstration combines real world data collection with the use of the applet to enhance the understanding of sampling distribution. Students will work in groups to determine the average date of their 30 coins. In turn, they will report their mean to the instructor, who will record these. The instructor can then create a histogram based on their sample means and explain that they have created a sampling distribution. Afterwards, the applet can be used to demonstrate properties of the sampling distribution. The idea here is that students will remember what they physically did to create the histogram and, therefore, have a better understanding of sampling distributions.

This site funded by the Kaiser Family Foundation provides information on health care and demographics for the 50 U.S. states. Users can use interactive maps or search by particular characteristics for each state. Tables can be created and copied and there is also direct data download (in Excel format) from this site. The site includes data on median income, gender, ethnicity, medical and drug spending, HIV/AIDS rates, and over 500 other variables at the state level

This activity stresses the importance of writing clear, unbiased survey questions. It explore the types of bias present in surveys and ways to reduce these biases. In addition, the activity covers some basics of surveys: population, sample, sampling frame, and sampling method.

This dataset contains information on temperature, precipitation, and weather stations for 48 states. The data is available in Excel and rich text formats.

This applet generates confidence intervals for means or proportions. The options for confidence intervals for means include "z with sigma," "z with s," or "t." The options for confidence intervals for proportions are "Wald," "Adjusted Wald," or "Score." Users set the population parameters, sample size, number of intervals, and confidence level. Click "Sample," and the applet will graph the intervals. Intervals shown in green contain the true population mean or proportion, while intervals in red do not. The true mean or proportion is shown by a blue line. The applet displays the proportion of intervals containing the population parameter for each sample and a running total of all the samples. Users can also click on a particular interval to display the numerical interval or sort the displayed confidence intervals from smallest to largest. This applet is part of a collection designed to accompany the textbook "Investigating Statistical Concepts, Applications, and Methods" (ISCAM) and is used in Exploration 4.3 on page 327, Investigation 4.3.6 on page 331, and Exploration 4.4 on page 350. This applet also supplements "Workshop Statistics: Discovery with Data," 2nd edition, Activity 19-5 on page 403. Additional materials written for use with these applets can be found at http://www.mathspace.com/NSF_ProbStat/Teaching_Materials/rowell/final/16_cireview_bc322_2.doc and http://www.mathspace.com/NSF_ProbStat/Teaching_Materials/rowell/final/15_sampdistreview_bc322_1.doc.