Resource Library

A highly trained mathematical statistician without knowledge of the subject can be quite as dangerous as a subject-matter specialist trying to use statistical methods of which he has little knowledge. This is a quote of American Economist and Statistician Aryness Joy Wickens (1901 - 1991). The quote is from her Presidential Address to the American Statistical Association at the 112th annual meeting on December 28, 1952. The full address is reprinted in "JASA" v. 48 p. 1-14. (picture from LIFE magazine; copyright by Time, Inc. for non-commercial use only)

In the philosophic sense, observation shows and experiment teaches. This is a quote by French physiologist Claude Bernard (1813 - 1878). The quote is from his 1865 book "An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine" as translated by Henry Greene (the first printing of this english translation was in 1927 by Macmillan).

Every careful measurement in science is always given with the probable error... every observer admits that he is likely wrong, and knows about how much wrong he is likely to be. This is a quote by Welsh Mathematician and philosopher Bertrand A.W. Russell (1872 - 1970). The quote may be found in his 1931 book "The Scientific Outlook" and is also found on the science history website www.todayinsci.com

The same set of statistics can produce opposite conclusions at different levels of aggregation. is a quote useful in teaching about Simpson's Paradox from American Economist Thomas Sowell (1930 - ). The quote may be found on page 102 of his 1996 book "The vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation As a Basis for Social Policy". The quote may also be found at the science history website www.todayinsci.com.

August 25, 2009 Activity webinar presented by Michelle Everson, University of Minnesota and hosted by Leigh Slauson, Capital University. In a classroom setting, students can engage in hands-on activities in order to better understand certain concepts and ideas. Replicating hands-on activities in an online environment, however, can be a challenge for instructors. The purpose of this webinar is to present an applet that was created to replicate a "Post-it Note" activity commonly used in classroom sections of an undergraduate introductory statistics course at University of Minnesota. The Post-it Note activity is meant to help students develop a more conceptual understanding of the mean and the median by moving a set of Post-it Notes along a number line. During the webinar, participants have an opportunity to see and experience just how online students are able to interact with an applet named the "Sticky Centers" applet, and the webinar presents the kinds of materials and assignments that have been created to use in conjunction with this applet. The webinar ends with a preview of a newer applet that is being developed in order to replicate the famous "Gummy Bears in Space" activity (presented in Schaeffer, Gnanadesikan, Watkins & Witmer, 1996). A supplemental student handout is available for download free of charge.

A cartoon to teach the idea that averages are less variable than individual values. The cartoon is free for use on course websites or in the classroom. Commercial uses must contact the copyright holder - British cartoonist John Landers (cartoons@landers.co.uk) who drew this cartoon based on an idea from Dennis Pearl.

...no good statistician existed unless he, or she, had been so involved in practical experimentation that they appreciated and understood the problems of the experimenter, the process worker, the farmer and the laboratory assistant. is a quote of British applied statistician Stella V. Cunliffe (1917 - 2012). The quote comes from her Presidential address on November 12, 1975 to the Royal Statistical Society (she was the first women to hold the position). The full presentation can be found in "JRSS series A" vol 139 p. 1-19 and contains many interesting examples from her years working at Guiness Brewery and for the government at the Home Office.

Care must be taken in planning experiments so that the differences to be examined for significance should be those which furnish an answer to the question which we are asking. is a quote from British statistician William Sealy Gosset (a.k.a. Student: 1876 - 1937). The quote appears in a 1931 letter to "Biometrika" in which he was addressing some criticism of his work by Karl Pearson.

... one of the main functions of an analogy or model is to suggest extensions of the theory by considering extensions of the analogy, since more is known about the analogy than is known about the subject matter of the theory itself. is a quote by English science philosopher Mary B. Hesse. The quote is found in her 1952 paper "Operational Definition and Analogy in Physical Theories" "British Journal for the Philosophy of Science" (1952).

An experiment is a question which science poses to Nature, and a measurement is the recording of Nature's answer. This is a quote by German Physicist Max Planck (1858 - 1947). The quote (translated into English in the book "Scientific Autobiography and Other Papers" page 110 (1949)