StatLit Tools

11/30/09

This page contains various tools that may be helpful. All these tools are web-accessible and are freely available for use on this site.

Surveys: These help people evaluate their strengths and opportunities for improvement in various aspects of statistical literacy
Standardizing: Using graphs, these web programs show users the impact of controlling for a related factor.
Grammar Drills: This web program helps users develop their skills in using ordinary English to describe and compare rates and percentages as presented in pie charts, in statements, in tables and in graphs. The author of this cutting-edge program (Tom Burnham) is shown above.
Part-whole drill: This web program helps users develop their skills in identify the part and whole in statements, tables and graphs.

1. SURVEYS:
This web site contains several surveys along with results from various groups.

Five Table survey. This short survey (~7 minutes) asks respondent which statements accurately describe the circled percentage in five different tables. This survey is available in a web version with immediate grading and feedback on errors, and in a paper version.
2002 W. M. Keck Statistical Literacy Survey. This very long survey (~50 minutes) is available in Perseus-powered web version that acquires the data but gives no interactive feedback, and in a paper version. The results and analysis of this survey are also available.

2. STANDARDIZING:
Standardizing is a new graphical technique for taking into account the influence of a related factor.
This site contains several articles on confounding, standardization and Simpson's Paradox.

Presenting Confounding Graphically Using Standardization by Schield (2006). Draft for Stats magazine
Three Graphs to Promote Statistical Literacy by Schield (2004), ICME.
Frequency of Simpson's Paradox in NAEP Data by Terwilliger and Schield (2004), AERA.
Simpson's Paradox and Cornfield's Conditions by Schield (1999), American Statistical Association.

This site contains two web-based interactive Excel programs that demonstrate this technique.

Standardizing for Percentage Outcomes between 0% and 8%.
Standardizing for Average Outcomes between 0 and 800.

3. RATIO GRAMMAR READING DRILL:
This web site contains a web-interactive Part-Whole Drill program that helps users develop their skills in reading -- in identifying the part and whole in a statement, graph or table involving ratios such as rates and percentages.

4. RATIO GRAMMAR WRITING DRILL:
This web site contains an web interactive Ratio Grammar Writing Drill program that helps users develop their skills in writing -- in writing ordinary English statements to describe and compare rates and percentages as presented in pie charts, statements, tables and graphs. This cutting-edge program was developed under the W. M. Keck Statistical Literacy Project. This program works with Microsoft Internet Explorer (Problems have been reported by the Mozilla Firefox). The following documentation is available.

An Introduction to a Web-Based Statement Validator for Rates and Percentages by Burnham and Schield (2006) IASSIST
An Online Grammar-Parsing Program that Decodes Ordinary English Descriptions & Comparisons of Rates & Percentages by Burnham and Schield (2005) in the Proceedings of the American Statistical Association Section on Statistical Education, p. 2202 - 2210.
Statistical Literacy Workshop: Using a Learning Object by Schield (2006) at IASSIST.

Capella University is using an older version of this program.

5. MISCELLANEOUS:
To print the SQL statements in a MS Access query, checkout Print Access Query SQL.

2009FreeMinds09Schield1: Track1, Track2, Track3, Track4, Track5, Track6.

Alan Shepard's Sales Rank Express: www.salesrankexpress.com/index.html

This site was last updated 11/30/09