Interactive Statistical Demonstrations and Tutorials
(Updated: 02/22/2009)
Demonstrations and Tutorials...
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SticiGui (pronounced
"sticky-gooey") -- an excellent interactive online textbook/tutorial that
was designed for a "first and last" Statistics class for Business, Social
Science, or liberal arts. In other words, this site contains the knowledge
you'd want to get if you were going to take only one stats course in your
whole life. So it's not geared toward theory, numerical analysis,
sophisticated formulas, or big collections of specialized tests or probability
distributions. Instead, it helps you think logically about quantitative evidence
and to translate real-world situations into mathematical questions; it shows
you a few important statistical and probabilistic concepts and some of the
difficulties, subjective decisions, and pitfalls, in analyzing data and making
inferences from numbers. The text develops probability, estimation, and inference
using counting arguments: there is no calculus involved. The web site's creator
(a Statistics professor at U.C. Berkely) hopes that people who study these
materials will:
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Read the newspaper with new eyes: become skilled, circumspect consumers of
qualitative and quantitative information.
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Know that probability in particular, and numbers in general, can be used
to model some features of the physical world and human behavior.
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Improve their skills in critical thinking and logical reasoning.
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Appreciate the role Statistics plays in many fields, from business to economics,
law, politics, science and medicine.
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Know that data can be manipulated to tell many inconsistent stories, that
data analysis is not clear cut, and that many subjective judgments are involved
in analyzing real data.
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Know important questions to ask when faced with a quantitative argument—be
able to analyze arguments and find their strengths and weaknesses.
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Understand that untutored intuition tends to produce faulty probability judgments
and know how to reason about probability.
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Appreciate some of the philosophical difficulties in ascribing meaning to
probability and in inferring causal relationships from data.
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Be prepared for more advanced courses in Statistics—even though they
might not take any.
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Dr. Hossein Arsham's Remarkable
Web Site (University of Baltimore) -- A very large and very
impressive collection of online courses, tutorials, and related resources
for a wide variety of subjects related to:
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Statistical Data Analysis for Managerial Decisions, with Excel For
Introductory Statistical Analysis
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Business Statistics for Managerial Decision Making, with Excel for
Business Statistics
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Science of Making Good Strategic Decisions, with Success Science,
Leadership Decision Making, Tools for Decision Analysis, Time-Critical Decision
Making for Economics and Finance, Zero-Sum Games with Applications, Decision
Science Resources, A Collection of Keywords and Phrases
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Goal-seeking and Optimal Strategic Modeling and Solution Algorithms,
with Linear Programming (LP) and Goal-Seeking Strategy, Integer Optimization
and the Network Models, Artificial-variable Free LP Solution Algorithms,
Tools for LP Modeling Validation, The Classical Simplex Method, Linear Algebra
and LP Connections, From Linear to Nonlinear Optimization: The Missing Chapter,
Construction of the Sensitivity Region for LP Models, Optimization with
Sensitivity Analysis Resources
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Modeling and Simulation for Systems Analysis, Design and Control,
with System Simulation, , Modeling and Simulation Resources
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Statistical Concepts and Tools for Data Analysis, with Questionnaire
Design and Surveys Sampling, Topics in Statistical Data Analysis, Computational
Statistics, Probability and Statistics Resources
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Online Courses: Business Statistics, Decision Science/Management
Science/Operations Research.
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Instructional and Training Resources: Zero Sagas in Four Dimensions,
Impact of the Internet on Learning & Teaching
Business
Statistics: Revealing Facts From Figures -- A comprehensive online business
statistics course! The main part of the course consists of one very
long web page covering: Introduction, Towards Statistical Thinking, Probability
for Statistical Inference, Topics in Business Statistics, and Interesting
and Useful Sites. This page also links to six companion sites: Time Series
Analysis and Forecasting Techniques, Companion site II: Computers and
Computational Statistics, Companion site III: Questionnaire Design and Surveys
Sampling, Companion site IV: Probabilistic Modeling Process: Calculable Risky
Decision-Making, Companion site V: Excel For Introductory Statistical Analysis,
and Companion site VI: Statistical Books List
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WISE (from Claremont Graduate University)
-- a wide range of resources that are freely available on the Internet. Contains
a sequence of interactive tutorials on key statistical concepts (sampling
distributions, the central limit theorem, hypothesis testing, and statistical
power). The tutorials use dynamic applets that allow the user to explore
relationships on their own. Guided exercises are designed to help the learner
to take full advantage of the applets to gain a deeper understanding of the
concepts and logic that underlie much of inferential statistics.
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Statistics
101 in Plain English -- a set of tutorials that describe the basic concepts
of statistical inference, and also cover common statistical analyses (t-test,
ANOVA, correlation), power/sample-size analysis, and SPSS help. This web
site is maintained by a statistical consultant, who offers research/thesis
help to doctoral students and researchers, on a fee basis.
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Against All Odds:
Inside Statistics -- A video instructional series (26 half-hour video
programs) on statistics. With an emphasis on “doing”
statistics, this series goes on location to help uncover statistical solutions
to the puzzles of everyday life. Learn how data collection and manipulation
— paired with intelligent judgement and common sense —
can lead to more informed decision-making. This series can also be used as
a resource for teacher professional development.
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C++ Maniac -- A set of short
lessons that will teach you the basics of Visual C Plus. Chapters currently
written include number systems, IEEE floating-point standards, data types
and casting, operators and integer operations, character variables, assigning,
comparison, IF conditions, conditional and logical operators. And new chapters
are being added at a rapid pace.
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Learning Math:
Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability -- A video- and Web-based course
on basic concepts of statistics for K-8 teachers. Has 9 half-hour and 1 one-hour
video programs, course guide, and Web site; graduate credit available. Organized
around the content standards of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
(NCTM). Introduces statistics as a problem-solving process. Presents statistical
concepts, such as data representation, variation, the mean and median, bivariate
data, probability, designing statistical experiments, and population estimations.
Has case studies, divided into grade bands for K-2, 3-5, and 6-8 teachers.
Consists of 10 two-and-a-half hour sessions, each with a half-hour of video
programming, problem-solving activities available in print and on the Web,
interactive activities and demonstrations on the Web, and questions for class
discussion or individual reflection.
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StickiGui --
a well-organized and comprehensive interactive online statistics course,
by Berkely professor Philip Stark, with chapters on: Tables, Percentiles,
Histograms; Measures of Location and Spread; Multivariate Data; Association
and Correlation; Regression; Errors in Regression; Counting;
Probability:Philosophy and Mathematical Background; Probability: Axioms and
Fundaments; "Let's Make a Deal" - Subtleties of Conditional Probability;
Probability Meets Data; Random Variables and Discrete Distributions; The
Long Run and Expected Value; Standard Error; The Normal Curve, the Central
Limit Theorem, and Markov's and Chebychev's inequalities for random variables;
Sample Surveys and Sampling Designs; Estimating Parameters from Simple Random
Samples; Confidence Intervals; Hypothesis testing: does chance explain the
results?; Does Treatment Have an Effect?; Testing Equality of Two Percentages;
Approximate Hypothesis Tests: the z test and the t test; Multinomial models
for categorical data and the chi-square test for goodness of fit; and A Case
Study in Natural Resource Legislation. Also includes a collection of 16
online calculators and demonstrations: Binomial Histogram, Calculator,
Chi-square distribution, Controlling for variables, Confidence Intervals,
Correlation and Regression, Histogram, Law of Large Numbers, Normal Approximation
to Data , Normal Curve, Normal Probabilities, Probability Calculator, Sampling
Distributions, Scatterplots, Student's t Distribution, and Venn Diagrams
(2 subsets, 3 subsets).
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StatisticsSolutions - a
company specializing in statistical consulting and analysis services for
graduate students working on their dissertations. Their web site also provides
a collection of
statistics-related
tips, tutorials and other resources.
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StatGames
-- 20 games—or challenges—that will help you test and
refine your statistical thinking. Not a substitute for a statistics course,
but may give you an enjoyable opportunity to develop your statistical reasoning.
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Choosing
Neighbors -- implements Thomas Schelling's mathematical model of residential
segregation. "REDs" and "GREENs" live in the same neighborhood. You get to
chose how many of each live there, and you get to choose the minimum number
of like-color neighbors each wants. (Many people like living in integrated
neighborhoods, but most don't want to be the only one of their color there.)
The program lets people move around the neighborhood until their wishes are
met. See what happens when non-racists just don't want to be alone.
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Statistical
Chart Tutor -- helps students learn to read statistical tables:
distributions, scatterplots, regressions, and cross-tabulations (the last
with and without control variables).
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StatQuiz
-- contains hundreds of multiple-choice questions that will help you test
and develop your statistical reasoning. The questions are organized into
10 categories (corresponding to the chapters in this statistics textbook:
Introduction to Statistical Reasoning, WCB/McGraw-Hill, 1998 ). After you
answer each question, you will see a brief explanation of why your selected
answer is correct or incorrect.
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VESTAC -- a large collection
of Java applets for visualizing statistical concepts (regression, ANOVA,
hypothesis tests, all kinds of distributions...) developed at the Catholic
University of Leuven in Belgium.
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Statistics Tutorials
that briefly explain the use and interpretation of standard statistical analysis
techniques, using the WINKS program from
TexaSoft.
Tutorials include:
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Probability by
Surprise -- A set of interactive applets: The Birthday Problem, Say Red,
The Collector, Banach's Matchbox Problem, The Matching Problem, The IID Sequence,
Polya's Urn as a restaurant choice, Random Scatter, Traffic jams, Visualizing
Probabilities, Building a Probability Tree, Two-dimensional densities with
Conditional Probabilities. Also contains class notes for the Introduction
to Probability class currently taught at Stanford using these, and other
web-resources.
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Interactive
Simulations
and Demonstrations from the creator of the
HyperStat Online statistics
book. More than a dozen applets; most require version 4 browsers with
(Java 1.1). Includes: Mean and Median; Sampling
Distribution Simulation; Confidence Intervals; Normal Approximation to the
Binomial Distribution; Confidence Interval on a Proportion; Components of
r; Regression by Eye; Restriction of Range; Repeated Measures; A "Small"
Effect Size Can Make a Large Difference; Chi Square Test of Deviations from
Expected Frequencies; 2 x 2 Contingency Tables; Reliability and Regression
Analysis; and Histograms, Bin Widths, and Cross Validation.
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Seeing Statistics by Gary
McClelland -- an online textbook containing many animated (Java) demonstrations.
A tour, and part of the complete book, is available free.
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A set of online tutorials about forecasting,
time series, and ARIMA models, from AutoBox.
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Internet Projects to
accompany Weiss's Introductory Statistics textbook. For each of the
15 chapters in the book, this website contains a set of pages with a relevant
real-world example. The pages contain background material, datasets, guides
to analysis (often using the calculating pages listed right here in the
Interactive Statistics Pages), and links to other reference material
on the Internet.
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An On-line, Interactive, Computer
Adaptive Testing Mini-Tutorial -- When an examinee is administered a
test via computer, the computer can update the estimate of the examinee's
ability after each item and then that ability estimate can be used in the
selection of subsequent items. With the right item bank and a high examinee
ability variance, CAT can be much more efficient than a traditional
paper-and-pencil test. This excellent tutorial lets you learn the logic of
CAT and see the calculations that go on behind the scenes. You can play with
an actual CAT (items and correct answers provided); try different scenarios
and see what happens;pretend you are a high ability, average or low ability
examinee; intentionally miss easy items; and get items right that should
be very hard for you.
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Spatial
Autocorrelation game -- given an initial random assortment of integers
which fill a , rearrange them to alter the spatial autocorrelation to maximize
it, minimize it, or even to drive it to zero.
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Interactive JavaScript
quizes on using SPSS and interpretation of results. Also contains other
SPSS-related resources.
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An excellent
demonstration of the use of the Chi Square test for analyzing contingency
tables. Using one of several pre-loaded sample datasets, you specify
the variables to be cross-tabbed; the program then generates a detailed analysis,
from which you can interactively explore the effects of merging rows and/or
columns in the table.
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A
set of demonstrations using the Quincunx to illustrate the Central Limit
Theorem (Java)
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Java
Demos for Probability and Statistics (Java)
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Five
demonstrations of how samples of increasing size approach a theoretical
distribution:
Empirical,
Kaplan-Meier,
Nelson-Aalen,
Interval
censored data, and
Doubly-Censored Data.
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Three
demonstrations of famous random processes:
2- and 1-dimensional
Brownian motion,
Buffon needle
experiment, and
Galton's
ball-drop "quincunx".
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Three Bootstrap
demonstrations:
Central Limit
Theorem,
Parametric
bootstrap of sample mean, and
Nonparametric
bootstrap of sample mean, all using the Exp(1) distribution.
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Sampling
SIM: Downloadable program (for Mac or Windows) to explore sampling
distributions of sample means and proportions. It provides separate windows
for building population distributions, drawing and viewing random samples
from the population, exploring the behavior of sampling distributions of
sample means, and exploring the behavior of confidence intervals.
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Play
around with the Normal (Gaussian) distribution
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Linear
regression / correlation demo -- click a bunch of points onto the screen;
as you enter each one, the computer immediately computes and displays an
adjusted regression line (with equation and correlation coefficient)
(Java)
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Similar
to above, but lets you simulate points from distributions with known correlation
coefficient (Java)
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Simulation
of various sampling distributions (Java)
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Simulation
of drawing objects (with replacement) from a "box" whose contents you can
define (Java)
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Simulate the
course of an epidemic (Java)
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A collection of QuickTime movies
illustrating various statistical concepts
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Monte-Carlo
p vs sample size simulation for survey questionnaire results, with graphical
output (Java)
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Virtual
Fly Lab -- simulate classic drosophila genetics experiments: Specify
the wing, hair, eye, antennae, etc. characteristics of a hypothetical male
and female fly; simulate the offspring of a mating; select a pair of offspring
to breed; simulate the offspring of their mating; and compare the
observed frequencies with those predicted from Mendelian genetics.
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Neck Trauma Bayesian Prognosticator
Demo (Java)
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