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www.ncpp.org The National Council on Public Polls has published a statement “20 Questions a Journalist Should Ask About a Poll” that makes interesting reading. The explanations expand on our cautions about sample surveys in practice. You can find similar information on the website of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, www.aapor.org. (Click on Resources and Education, and select “For Students.” Then take a look at the “Poll & Survey FAQs.”) Also, read the American Statistical Association publication What Is a Survey? (2nd ed.) at www.whatisasurvey.info.

www.census.gov/cps/ The single most important sample survey in the United States is probably the government’s monthly CPS, completed by the Census Bureau on behalf of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The CPS website contains a wealth of information.

www.learner.org/courses/againstallodds/ The online materials in Units 14, 15, 17 and 28 from Against All Odds: Inside Statistics are directly applicable to material discussed in this chapter. The video for Unit 14, “The Question of Causation,” provides a history of the evidence leading up to the U.S. Surgeon General’s 1962 report that concluded smoking causes cancer. Unit 15, “Designing Experiments,” discusses two studies: an observational study on the health of coral reef ecosystems and an experiment to determine whether taking dietary supplements effects joint pain. Units 17 and 28, “Samples and Surveys” and “Inference for Proportions,” expand on the content on sampling designs and inference contained in this chapter.