Observational Studies

  • I remember my friend Johnny von Neumann used to say, with four parameters I can fit an elephant, and with five I can make him wiggle his trunk. includes the quote attributed to Hungarian-American mathematician John von Neumann (1903 - 1957). The full quote was relayed by Enrico Fermi in 1953 when he was asked about the value of a result that used four free parameters in fitting experimental results. (see "A meeting with Enrico Fermi" "Nature" 427: p. 297.)
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  • A cartoon to teach about interpreting observational studies. Cartoon by John Landers (www.landers.co.uk) based on an idea from Dennis Pearl (The Ohio State University). Free to use in the classroom and on course web sites.
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  • A cartoon to use with discussion of notation for parameter values. Cartoon by John Landers (www.landers.co.uk) based on an idea from Dennis Pearl (The Ohio State University). Free to use in the classroom and on course web sites.
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  • This lesson introduces two sample hypothesis testing for means and discusses the one-tailed and two-tailed t-tests.
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  • This tutorial opens with a survey on polling. Upon completing the survey, students are taken through an election example which uses polling to explain random sampling, bias, margin of error, and confidence intervals.
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  • This site contains links to journals on probability and statistics published around the world. "Some publishers require registration to browse abstracts. Others require a current subscription to the journal by you or your institution. Most browsable titles, abstracts and papers are only for the past year or so."
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  • The plural of anecdote is not data. Attributed to American economist Roger E. Brinner in the on-line list of quotes at www.keypress.com/fathom/fathom1/quotes.html
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  • USA Today has come out with a new survey - apparently three out of four people make up 75 percent of the population. Quote from comedian and late night talk show host David Letterman (1947 - ).
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  • Statistics play an important role in genetics. For instance, statistics prove that the number of offspring you will have is an inherited trait. If your parents didn't have any kids, odds are you won't either. Joke #137 of Gary Ramseyer's "First Internet Gallery of Statistics Jokes" contributed by Hugh W. Graham of Abbott Labs.
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  • A cartoon to use at the end of a class period when the instructor was rushed to finish. Cartoon by John Landers (www.landers.co.uk) based on an idea from Dennis Pearl (The Ohio State University). Free to use in the classroom and on course web sites.
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