VIDEOTAPES IN THE SERIES
"AGAINST ALL ODDS: INSIDE STATISTICS


A TIME-SUBJECT INDEX FOR
"AGAINST ALL ODDS: INSIDE STATISTICS"

Edward R. Mansfield

Box 870226, University of Alabama,

Tuscaloosa, AL 35487-0226

8/10/95

KEY WORDS: Teaching, Multimedia, Visual aids.


Against All Odds: Inside Statistics is a collection of twenty-six half hour outstanding video presentations that depict how statistics is used in society. This outstanding series was produced under the guidance of Dr. David Moore of Purdue University. The tapes are available from The Annenberg/CPB Collection, and are also offered free to schools that adopt certain text books. Using short excepts from the thirteen hours of video in the classroom can be a excellent way introduce students of statistics to real problems. Contained in this paper is a detailed listing of the real world setting, the specific statistical items discussed, and a time index so that instructors can go directly to a desired story on a tape. As an example of how to use a tape in class, consider showing students the data and graphs that were used by engineers to determine if temperature was related to joint scaring for a particular complicated machine. Then show a video of the result of what happened when all the data were not considered: the space shuttle Challenger exploding! The impact on the class can be quite dramatic.

Those segments of the series that I think can be used effectively in a classroom setting are highlighted. A H to H H H H rating is used. These are my ratings; yours will vary. The portions of the tapes in which Teresa Amabile, series hostess from Brandis University, teaches are generally not rated, since she is playing the role of the instructor, the task you will be performing in the classroom. Statistical terms are shown in bold type. The names of the experts used in the stories are given.

A VCR and a TV monitor are all that is needed. Knowing where specific segments start and end is greatly enhanced if your VCR has a "real time" counter as opposed to one that counts revolutions of the videocassette reel. Each tape in the series contains two 30 minute programs. All times in this paper are measured from the front of a tape, beginning at the first video signal on the tape. This signal is always "1-800-LEARNER", the phone number for information on the tape series. When this first appears, reset your VCR counter to "0:00". The time corresponding to "END OF PROGRAM" indicates the point at which the program credits start. Times on the left indicate the time index at which a segment starts; the times given in brackets show the elapsed time for that particular segment. Note, because of differences in the productions runs made for duplicating this series, the "gap time" between the two programs on each tape may vary.
Your tapes may have different gap times than mine; if so, note the difference and adjust all times on the even numbered programs accordingly.

I am not advocating showing any tape in its entirety as a substitute for live instruction. Because we feel that the tapes are valuable, we indicate on our course syllabi which programs correspond to the lectures. We then make all the tapes in the series available to our students in our video viewing center for "after hours viewing". Although we encourage students to watch the tapes, most do not.

Enjoy the series!

Overview of Stories

Details for each story are given in the next section

PROGRAM 1: What is Statistics?

Note: Each of the following stories in Program 1 is presented in more detail in later programs.

PROGRAM 2: Picturing Distributions

PROGRAM 3: Describing Distributions

PROGRAM 4: Normal Distributions

PROGRAM 5: Normal Calculations

PROGRAM 6: Time Series

PROGRAM 7: Models for Growth

PROGRAM 8: Describing Relationships

PROGRAM 9: Correlation

PROGRAM 10: Multi-dimensional Data Analysis

PROGRAM 11: The Question of Causation

PROGRAM 12: Experimental Design

PROGRAM 13: Blocking and Sampling

PROGRAM 14: Samples and Surveys

PROGRAM 15: What is Probability

PROGRAM 16: Random Variables

PROGRAM 17: Binomial Distributions

PROGRAM 18: The Sample Mean and
Control Charts

PROGRAM 19: Confidence Intervals

PROGRAM 20: Significance Tests

PROGRAM 21: Inference for One Mean

PROGRAM 22: Comparing Two Means

PROGRAM 23: Inference For Proportions

PROGRAM 24:Inference for Two-Way
Tables

PROGRAM 25: Inference for Relationships

PROGRAM 26: Case Study

 

Details of the Stories

PROGRAM 1: What is Statistics?

Note: Each of the following stories in Program 1 is presented in more detail in later programs.

PROGRAM 2: Picturing Distributions

PROGRAM 3: Describing Distributions

PROGRAM 4: Normal Distributions

PROGRAM 5: Normal Calculations

PROGRAM 6: Time Series (add 0:42)

PROGRAM 7: Models for Growth

PROGRAM 8: Describing Relationships

PROGRAM 9: Correlation

PROGRAM 10: Multi-dimensional Data
Analysis
(add 1:10)

PROGRAM 11: The Question of Causation

PROGRAM 12: Experimental Design (+0:33)

PROGRAM 13: Blocking and Sampling

PROGRAM 14: Samples and Surveys

PROGRAM 15: What is Probability

PROGRAM 16: Random Variables

PROGRAM 17: Binomial Distributions

PROGRAM 18: The Sample Mean and
Control Charts

PROGRAM 19: Confidence Intervals

PROGRAM 20: Significance Tests

PROGRAM 21: Inference for One Mean

PROGRAM 22: Comparing Two Means

PROGRAM 23: Inference For Proportions

PROGRAM 24:Inference for Two-Way
Tables

PROGRAM 25: Inference for Relationships

PROGRAM 26: Case Study

The volume of work in this video series is awesome and the quality is outstanding. Our profession would be well served if all college students watched these programs. As professors teaching Statistics classes, we can use excerpts from these tapes in class to introduce students to situations in society where Statistics plays a key roll.

Who decided that aspirin can reduce the number of heart attacks?

How?

Does it work for anybody?

 

Have Deming speak
to your class.

"It's so simple, . . . ."

 

Do cycles exist in
the stock market?

See two experts go
head to head.

 

Can your really trust
a NORC survey?

Can you trust just
any ol' survey?

 

How can sampling result in better tasting potato chips?

 

Free throws. Does making the first improve your chances of making the second?

The Boston Celtics know
the answer.

What factors contributed to the space shuttle Challenger disaster?

 

Inquiring minds want to know!

Show them!!

It is all in the video series,

Against All Odds.

 

Show short segments
in your classes.

Introduce your students
to "real world" problems.

 

You don't have the tapes?

Call 1 - 800 - LEARNER