Samples, surveys, and polls

Cartoons

• A Calvin and Hobbes cartoon (by Bill Watterson) about getting intentionally messy data from surveys.
• A Hagar the Horrible cartoon (by Chris Brown) about a biased survey.
• A Peanuts cartoon (by Charles M. Schulz) about a door-to-door survey.
• A Shoe cartoon (by Jeff MacNelly) about survey responses.
• A Garfield cartoon (by Jim Davis) about survey responses.

Class lecture notes

• Class lecture notes: Sampling.  An introduction to sampling with replacement, sampling without replacement, and random sampling.  Submitted by Herb McGrath.

Projects

• Good Poll, Bad Poll. Students work in groups to create a good poll and a bad poll. The students are asked to submit a how-to-manual and a news article for each type of poll. Submitted by Laura J. Simon.

Videos

• Against All Odds: Inside Statistics Video 14:  Samples and Surveys:  Sampling and Sampling Distributions.  Can small samples give accurate information?  Stratified random sampling is explained.  A 1936 Gallup election yields important information about the concept of undercoverage and the importance of careful use of sampling.  See how a survey is designed to ensure randomness and avoid bias.  (28:51 mins.)  Video available in Main Office and from Penn State AVS.
• For All Practical Purposes: Statistics Video 2:  Behind the Headlines.  Takes a deeper look at data collection and explores how surveys and public opinion polls actually work.  (27:00 mins.)  Video available from Penn State AVS.