This article introduces a fun, hands-on activity for comparing hand water displacements.

This articles argues in favour of a recently introduced approach to statistical inference which focuses on understanding the data generating process. A comprehensive example supports the discussion.

This article explores the use of online survey software to collect data from students during class to efficiently use class time. Several example activities for an introductory statistics classroom are considered. We also discuss utilization of online survey software for other purposes such as collecting assessment information and student…

We argue for decreasing the use of the word "spread" when describing the statistical idea of dispersion or variability in introductory statistics courses. In addition, we argue for increasing the use of the word "variability" as a replacement for "spread."

Recent advances in cognitive science have led to an enriched understanding of how people learn. Using a framework presented by Willingham, this article examines instructional best practice from the perspective of conceptual understanding and its implications on statistics education.

W. A. Wallis studied vacancies in the US Supreme Court over a 96-year period (1837-1932) and found that the distribution of the number of vacancies per year could be characterized by a Poisson model. This note updates this classic study.

This article considers prototype data sets that attain lower and upper bounds on the standard deviation in terms of the range.

We find the correlation of two jointly distributed random variables connected with a coin tossing experiment. The marginal distributions are binomial and negative binomial.

We explain how to simulate both univariate and bivariate raw data sets having specified values for common summary statistics. The first example illustrates how to "construct" a data set having prescribed values for the mean and the standard deviation--for a one-sample t test with a specified outcome. The second shows how to create a bivariate data…

The use of the Internet as a teaching tool continues to grow in popularity at colleges and universities. We consider, from the students' perspective, the use of an Internet approach compared to a lecture and lab-based approach for teaching an introductory course in statistical methods. We conducted a survey of introductory statistics students.…

This article re-examines the much maligned piechart and provides justification for its use. It identifies common pitfalls when drawing piecharts in Microsoft Excel and offers advice on how to avoid them. (Contains 6 figures and 5 tables.)

An elusive probability paradox is analysed. The fallacy is traced back to improper use of a symbol that denotes at the same time a random variable and two different values that it may assume.

This is the first of a series on data investigations in which the cycle of issues, planning, collecting, exploring, interpreting and discussing is reported for selected data investigations, with the data sets available on the Blackwell repository. The motivating issues for the investigation of this report were the manner in which people clasp…

This article evaluates and explores the correlation (+0.892) between the United States federal election winner and the most recent Washington Redskin home-game winner, a relation perfectly linked for 17 of 18 elections since franchise inception in 1936.

We focus on the problem of ignoring statistical independence. A binomial experiment is used to determine whether judges could match, based on looks alone, dogs to their owners. The experimental design introduces dependencies such that the probability of a given judge correctly matching a dog and an owner changes from trial to trial. We show how…