Inspire statistical understanding through podcasts, videos and short articles

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Science and the practice of science rely on facts derived from data. When properly collected and used, data can unravel novel patterns and empower individuals to make informed decisions and improve people's lives. Training in statistics, the practice and science of collecting, analyzing and interpreting numerical data in large quantities, has, therefore, become crucial for anyone seeking a career in science.

Recent years have seen significant transformations in the way we impart statistics knowledge. Approaches such as the flipped classroom and The Islands, and computer applications based on the R statistical programming language are becoming popular instruction techniques. These approaches allow scholars to engage with statistical concepts at their own pace through firsthand experience.

Podcasts, video illustrations of statistical concepts, video interviews with statisticians and other quantitative scientists, and short articles written at a level suited for a general audience can supplement these transformative approaches. They also have significant potential for inspiring scholars to appreciate how myriad statistical ideas and seemingly abstract statistical notions are persistently encountered in our daily lives. Given below is a brief list of such materials that I found to be appealing to many scholars in an introductory biostatistics course. Click on the links to explore them for yourself:

• Episodes from the BBC Radio 4 podcast More or Less: Behind the Stats:

• Florence Nightingale – recognizing the nurse statistician.

• Missing women from drug trials.

• Heart deaths, organized crime and gender data gaps.

• Forecasting rain, teabags, voter ID trials.

• Gender pay gaps and how to learn a language.

• Spurious Correlations.

• Rounding up the weed killer cancer conundrum.

• Episodes from the BBC Radio 4 podcast Analysis:

• The Replication Crisis.

• Why do men and women vote differently?

• What would Florence Nightingale make of big data? Video narrated by David Spiegelhalter. BBC Ideas.

• The best stats you’ve ever seen. Ted Talk by Hans Rosling.

• Reading, writing and risk literacy? | Stats + Stories Episode 64.

• Interesting People #803: "Malcolm C. Pike, Ph.D"

• Spurious correlations: Margarine linked to divorce? BBC news article by James Fletcher.

• How one woman used regression to influence the salaries of many. Golbeck AL (2017). Significance Magazine, The Royal Statistical Society.

• Our Slough focus group on the economic downturn. BBC Radio 4 – Today

• Introductory materials on major architects of modern statistics and epidemiology:

• Edith Abbott and crime statistics. From the BBC Radio 4 podcast More or Less: Behind the Stats

• Eminent statistician David Blackwell has died at 91. By Robert Sanders, Berkeley News

• Tales from the century: Janet Lane-Claypon and epidemiology

• Sir Richard Doll. The Guardian

• Online games to highlight some disciplinary topics and to emphasize diversity in science:

• Design a clinical trial. National Museums Scotland

• How are drugs developed? Center of the Cell

• Flu epidemic – Can you stop the flu spreading world-wide? Center of the Cell.