Big Picture

Links for ‘Big Picture: Number Crunching’

Do you want to explore what else the internet has to offer on statistics? We've compiled a list of links to relevant teaching resources and other sites that might help.

Don't forget that the videos made to accompany 'Big Picture' are available on the Wellcome Trust YouTube channel, which also includes interviews with Wellcome Trust-funded scientists about their work.

In addition, the Wellcome Film YouTube channel contains hours of archived medical film from the 20th century, and you can download scientific and medical images at Wellcome Images.

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General statistics

Teaching resources from the Royal Statistical Society
General advice on stats from the Field Studies Council
Durham University’s StatWeb
A glossary on stats from the University of Glasgow
A PDF of ‘Biology statistics made simple using Excel’
‘ Statistics can be misleading’ worked examples from Econoclass.com
Sampling errors and opinion polls from Dr Andrew Steele
‘Plus’ magazine
If you get stuck with maths from the Open University
Freakonomics blog
Matt Parkers’ stats quiz from the 'Guardian'

General statistics: radio and video

A video giving a basic introduction to the use of statistics in biology
Tim Harford’s ‘More or Less’ programme on Radio 4
‘Dumb ways to die’ video from Metro Trains
The Numberphile YouTube channel
A video in which a marine biologist discusses collecting data about penguins from the National STEM Centre

How science works

How to tell the difference between journal articles and other articles
A guide to evidence-based medicine from the University of North Carolina
Dr Ben Goldacre's Bad Science
NHS Behind the Headlines looks at the science behind media coverage
Learning resources on evidence-based medicine, trials, stats and more from Oxford University's 'Bandolier' magazine
What is…? series on stats and evidence-based medicine
A guide to medical testing and screening from Merck Manuals
A PDF about coverage of stem cells in the media from NHS Choices
Ethical issues in biology from the Nuffield Foundation

Risk and probability

A guide and exercises on independent events from Maths Goodies
BEEP article on probability and chance
Scientific American article on the ‘microlife’
A scale to put risk into perspective
PDF of an issue of 'Pharmacology Matters' with an infographic showing the risks and benefits of statins (figure 1a, page 12)
Uncertainty and risk from the University of Cambridge
Animations on uncertainty and risk from the University of Cambridge
A guide to the probability of inheritance
David Spiegelhalter’s column on risk from BBC Future
The stats behind Derren Brown’s coin flipping
‘Knock knock bang’ probability game from the RSSCSE
Training in probabilistic reasoning from the University of Plymouth

Data you can use

Play with the results of the Children of the 90s research project
UK National Statistics publications hub
Decipher my data from I'm a Scientist - add your own data
Useful datasets and examples of clear and interactive ways to present data from Gapminder
Using Gapminder to explore cancer trends from Numbers Count!
Real-time world statistics
A visualisation of the causes of death in the 20th century, by Information is Beautiful
The archive of the Economic and Social Research Council's ‘ Britain in…’ magazine
A list of all the datasets compiled by the Guardian since 2009, from the Guardian datablog
BRAF: from gene to cancer therapy - a practical activity where students take on the role of genome researchers.

Statistical tests

Chi-squared test: This worked example is on ecology, from the Field Studies Council
Chi-squared test: This worked example is about vitamin C and getting colds, from the Big Picture team
Chi-squared test: This video on chi-squared is from Paul Andersen
T-test: This video explains the purpose of t-tests, how they work, and how to interpret the results, from StatsCast
Mann-Whitney U-test: This PDF includes a worked example of the test using a biological example, from Salters Nuffield Advanced Biology
Standard error and 95% confidence: A video tutorial explaining what the standard error is and how to work it out, with Paul Andersen
Standard error and 95% confidence: This site outlines why we use confidence intervals and questions to test your understanding, from the University of Glasgow
Spearman's rank correlation coefficient: This site explains the theories behind the test, outlines the potential pitfalls and includes a worked example, from the Barcelona Field Studies Centre
Wilcoxon Matched pairs test: This site includes a worked example on a biological topic, from the University of Central Missouri

Graphs and charts

Bar charts: Stat Trek's quick guide to bar charts and histograms, including the differences
Histograms: A clear, step-by-step instruction to creating histograms and bar charts by Mr Barton Maths
Histograms: From the MrArnoldsMaths YouTube channel, this video shows you how to produce a histogram
Histograms: Big Picture's own PowerPoint presentation with tips for drawing your own histogram
Pie charts: Clear, step-by-step instructions for hand-drawing a pie chart from Mr Barton
Pie charts: This video tutorial takes you through a worked example for drawing a pie chart
TF Scientist’s how to draw a scientific graph
Line graphs and error bars: Clear instructions on how to create a line graph, as well as useful pointers, from Queen's University Belfast
Line graphs and error bars: For students with a high level of understanding, this site shows how to interpret the information provided by error bars
Scatter graphs: This page covers everything from selecting axes to interpreting the line of best fit, by Mr Barton Maths
Scatter graphs: Stat Trek's guide to the scatter plot is accompanied by a video tutorial
Scatter graphs: BBC Bitesize's guide to ‘bad graphs’

Normal distribution

Normal distribution and diabetes
A guide to the normal distribution
From the MrArnoldsMaths YouTube channel, this video is a guide to the normal distribution
The StatWeb site has information on the normal distribution (select this option from the left-hand menu)
An online quincunx machine