This cartoon caption can be used to illustrate the idea that no matter how sound the technical analysis is, if the client can't understand it, they won't use it. The cartoon was used in the January 2025 CAUSE cartoon caption contest and the winning caption was written by Jim Alloway from EMSQ Associates. The cartoon was drawn by British cartoonist John Landers (www.landers.co.uk) based on an idea by Dennis Pearl from Penn State University.
This cartoon caption can be used in discussing how modern tools in data science have precursors in the Exploratory Data Analysis techniques developed by John Tukey who famously described the interdisciplinary nature of statistics with his quote "The best thing about being a statistician is that you get to play in everyone's backyard." The cartoon was used in the December 2024 CAUSE cartoon caption contest and the winning caption was written by Larry Lesser from The University of Texas at El Paso. (Lesser was then sparked by the Tukey quote to write his song “Backyard” that won 3rd place in the 2025 A-mu-sing contest.) The cartoon was drawn by British cartoonist John Landers (www.landers.co.uk) based on an idea by Dennis Pearl from Penn State University.
This cartoon caption can be used in discussing how modern tools in data science might help with drawing inferences from data gathered by nontraditional means. The cartoon was used in the November 2024 CAUSE cartoon caption contest and the winning caption was written by Jim Brumbaugh-Smith from Manchester University. The cartoon was drawn by British cartoonist John Landers (www.landers.co.uk) based on an idea by Dennis Pearl from Penn State University.
This cartoon caption can be used in discussing how simple random sampling can be improved upon by taking obvious explanatory factors into account. The cartoon was used in the October 2024 CAUSE cartoon caption contest and the winning caption was written by high school student Jackson Lin, from North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. The cartoon was drawn by British cartoonist John Landers (www.landers.co.uk) based on an idea by Dennis Pearl from Penn State University.
This cartoon caption can be used in a conversation about the least squares method for estimation in the regression setting. The cartoon was used as one of two cartoons in the September 2024 CAUSE cartoon caption contest and the winning caption was written by Nate Josephs from North Carolina State University. The cartoon was drawn by British cartoonist John Landers (www.landers.co.uk) based on an idea by Dennis Pearl from Penn State University.
This cartoon caption can be used in discussing the importance of providing information about the variability associated with estimates of effects. The cartoon was used as one of two cartoons in the September 2024 CAUSE cartoon caption contest and the winning caption was written by Charlie Smith from North Carolina State University. The cartoon was drawn by British cartoonist John Landers (www.landers.co.uk) based on an idea by Dennis Pearl from Penn State University.
This cartoon caption can be used in discussing the impact of outliers/influential points on inferential procedures. The cartoon was used in the August 2024 CAUSE cartoon caption contest and the winning caption was written by Kylee Regennitter, a student at University of Nebraska in Lincoln. The cartoon was drawn by British cartoonist John Landers (www.landers.co.uk) based on an idea by Dennis Pearl from Penn State University.
This cartoon’s quadruple pun caption can be used in general discussions of summary statistics and graphical presentations. The cartoon was used in the July 2024 CAUSE cartoon caption contest and the winning caption was written by Larry Lesser from The University of Texas at El Paso. The cartoon was drawn by British cartoonist John Landers (www.landers.co.uk) based on an idea by Dennis Pearl from Penn State University.
This cartoon caption illustrates the idea that statistical procedures based on the normality assumptions are often sensitive to heavy tailed populations and outliers. The cartoon was used in the June 2024 CAUSE cartoon caption contest and the winning caption was written by Charlie Smith from North Carolina State University. The cartoon was drawn by British cartoonist John Landers (www.landers.co.uk) based on an idea by Dennis Pearl from Penn State University.
This cartoon caption illustrates the idea that the value of a regression predictions may be sensitive to noise and outliers. The cartoon was used in the May 2024 CAUSE cartoon caption contest and the winning caption was written by retired AP statistics teacher Jodene Kessler. The cartoon was drawn by British cartoonist John Landers (www.landers.co.uk) based on an idea by Dennis Pearl from Penn State University.