#ReadyResources: Statistics Cartoons from CAUSEweb
Images can be memorable. They stimulate another portion of our brains. We've heard that graphs are better than tables in a presentation. But have you tried cartoons?
Often sitting on the edge reality and absurdity, sketches and cartoons can be used to motivate discussion in a safe space.
This little sketch of an apple and a pineapple was effectively used in a room of PhD epidemiologists and MD researchers to talk about why it is important for efficiency (and sanity) to be specific in hypotheses. So often we statisticians get is a mountain of data and the request to "tell me the difference between two groups." ACK! Looking at it again, this simple sketch could easily be re-purposed to talk about confounding or experimental design. Maybe multiple comparisons after discussing all of the ways these two fruits differ?
In that spirit, today's #ReadyResource is the CAUSEweb cartoon caption contest archive.
For the last couple of years, CAUSEweb has teamed up with professional cartoonist John Landers to create statistics themed cartoon panels. The added fun is that they call on the statistics education community to write the captions. Winning captions are announced with possible learning objectives inspired by the caption. Be sure to check out the honorable mentions for other perspectives too.
Here are a few that may spark discussion with your health sciences learners:
March 2017 - A doctor spinning a chance wheel, captioned: “Let's see what The Wheel of Non-Causal Relationships comes up with this month for strongest predictor of disease X”
May 2017 - A line of 3 plainly dressed and 3 unusually dressed characters waiting to vote on two products, captioned: “As my stats professor repeatedly told us: “Better to stratify and not need it, than to not stratify and need it””
June 2017 - Mice studying humans paired in cages, captioned: “An insider's view of a matched pair design”
Sept 2017 - An exasperated doctor standing between two beds with patients showing different outcomes and unlabeled graphs, captioned: “Charts not starting at 0 make doctors lose patience!”
Feb 2018 - A split laboratory with one side a disaster and the other side very tidy, captioned: “Don't Forget to Clean Your Dirty Data!”
May 2018 - A coffin at a grave site with pages of analyses sticking out and mourners examining laptops. Submissions for captions are being accepted until May 31, 2018.
Have you used cartoons or other sketches in your teaching? Please share your favorite resource in the comments below or send a copy of your personal masterpiece to the blog editor for inclusion in a future post.