Eric Sowey

Teaching Statistics: Making It Memorable

An overriding goal of teaching is to stimulate learning that lasts. A way to achieve this is, surely, to make teaching memorable. By asking “what makes teaching memorable?”, this paper identifies a...

Striking Demonstrations in Teaching Statistics

Long-term learning should, surely, be an outcome of higher education. What is less obvious is how to teach so that this goal is achieved. In this paper, one constructive contribution to such a goal is described in the context of statistical education: the introduction of striking demonstrations. A striking demonstration is any proposition, exposition, proof, analogy, illustration, or application that (a) is sufficiently clear and self-contained to be immediately grasped, (b) is immediately enlightening, though it may be surprising, (c) arouses curiosity and/or provokes reflection, and (d) is so presented as to enhance the impact of the foregoing three characteristics. Some 30 striking demonstrations are described and classified by statistical subfield. The intent is to display the variety of devices that can serve effectively for the purpose, as a stimulus to the readers own enlargement of the list for his or her own pedagogical use.

A classified bibliography of Monte Carlo studies in econometrics

Abstract The Monte Carlo method of exploring the properties of econometric estimators and significance tests has yielded a considerable amount of information that has practical value in guiding choice of technique in applied research. This paper presents a bibliography of such Monte Carlo studies over the period 1948–1972. About 150 citations are listed alphabetically by author, and also under a detailed subject-matter classification scheme.

Statistical Vistas: Perspectives on Purpose and Structure

A body of research on enhancing the teaching of statistics has been accumulating now for more than fifty years since the pioneering contributions of Wishart (1939) and Hotelling (1940). Yet undergraduates continue to find courses in statistics unappealing. Perhaps this is because their teachers ‐‐ even those clear and conscientious in explaining subject-matter detail, and thoughtful in their reading of the statistics education literature ‐‐ too commonly fail to open statistical vistas, and thus fail to convey a rich understanding of the purpose and structure of the subject. A vista is inherently a perspective view. This paper shows, with examples, how perspective views can illuminate both purpose and structure. A well-devised perspective on purpose, offered early, can make each topic in the course immediately meaningful. And perspectives on structure, unveiled strategically, can highlight the coherence of statistics. The authors experience over twenty-five years shows that teaching with perspectives can ...

The Getting of Wisdom: Educating Statisticians to Enhance Their Clients' Numeracy

One often hears that “data are not information, information is not knowledge, knowledge is not wisdom.” But what will turn data into information, information into knowledge, and knowledge into wisdom? The first two facets of this question are what motivate the description and inference topics in every statistics course. The third facet, the getting of wisdom, progresses as the students understanding of these topics grows in depth, realism, and resilience, yet its importance is often underrated in statistics courses. Crucial to the getting of wisdom is a competence to argue back to a statistic and to criticize a statistical argument. Imparting this competence should be a vital concern in designing the course syllabus. By adding a little to the syllabus, such a course can also aid the statistician later to open up for his/her client the clients own path to statistical knowledge and wisdom. This can be valuable for advancing numeracy in our alarmingly innumerate society.

Dissemination of macroeconometric models: Is a new age dawning?

Abstract In the history of macroeconomic modeling one particular development can be observed consistently. It is the steadily growing involvement of model users in determining the what, why, and when of model construction. In the present article we are interested in the most recent and most elaborate expression of this phenomenon—the dissemination, to users, of models built by econometric specialists, allowing the users partial or total control over the models. This article discusses various approaches to dissemination and considers the merits of each. From this exploration, and in the light of the experiences of several modelers in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, the article sets out guidelines for successfully disseminating a macroeconometric model.

From a Logical Point of View: An Illuminating Perspective in Teaching Statistical Inference.

Offering perspectives in the teaching of statistics assists students, immersed in the study of detail, to see the leading principles of the subject more clearly. Especially helpful can be a perspective on the logic of statistical inductive reasoning. Such a perspective can bring to prominence a broad principle on which both interval estimation and hypothesis testing are designed, and so can unify these seemingly disparate techniques in students’ minds. In this paper it is shown how to construct an illuminating perspective over this unifying principle, that experience shows is valued by intellectually lively students. To aid readers attracted by the idea of employing this perspective in their teaching, the paper includes a skeletal version of a recommended line of presentation.

Mathematics for economists— varied, versatile, vital

Mathematical and statistical techniques have been applied in economics for nearly two centuries, but it is only since about 1950 that the full power of these techniques has been felt pervasively in the discipline. To a modern economist, mathematics offers a rich and varied toolkit. The tools are versatile: a single approach can often solve quite diverse problems. One can, indeed, say that the contribution mathematics makes to economics nowadays is vital. This paper explores ideas on the mathematical and statistical education that is appropriate for economists, both at the preparatory level in secondary school and concurrently with undergraduate economics studies at university. The value of mathematical studies to economists is widely recognized. What must, however, also be recognized is that a mathematical approach to economics cannot ipso facto produce a solution to every applied economic problem. Mathematical skills are necessary but not sufficient for meeting the ultimately practical concerns of the ec...