News and Numbers

News and Numbers PDF

Author: Victor Cohn

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2011-09-07

Total Pages: 204

ISBN-13: 144434434X

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Numbers and statistical claims dominate today's news. Politics, budgets, crime analysis, medical issues, and sports reporting all demand numbers. Now in its third edition, News & Numbers focuses on how to evaluate statistical claims in science, health, medicine, and politics. It does so by helping readers answer three key questions about all scientific studies, polls, and other statistical claims: "What can I believe?" "What does it mean?" and "How can I explain it to others?" Updated throughout, this long overdue third edition brings this classic text up-to-date with the 21st century with a complete updating of examples, case studies, and stories. The text emphasises clear thinking and common sense approaches for understanding, analyzing and explaining statistics, and terms throughout the book are explained in easy-to-understand, nontechnical language. Much new material has been added to ensure the text maintains its pertinent approach to the subject, including: A section on computer modelling Additional chapters on risks and 'missing numbers' Updated sections on health plans and insurance, including updates on President Obama's health system overhaul & new material on health care costs and quality

Statistics Done Wrong

Statistics Done Wrong PDF

Author: Alex Reinhart

Publisher: No Starch Press

Published: 2015-03-01

Total Pages: 177

ISBN-13: 1593276206

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Scientific progress depends on good research, and good research needs good statistics. But statistical analysis is tricky to get right, even for the best and brightest of us. You'd be surprised how many scientists are doing it wrong. Statistics Done Wrong is a pithy, essential guide to statistical blunders in modern science that will show you how to keep your research blunder-free. You'll examine embarrassing errors and omissions in recent research, learn about the misconceptions and scientific politics that allow these mistakes to happen, and begin your quest to reform the way you and your peers do statistics. You'll find advice on: –Asking the right question, designing the right experiment, choosing the right statistical analysis, and sticking to the plan –How to think about p values, significance, insignificance, confidence intervals, and regression –Choosing the right sample size and avoiding false positives –Reporting your analysis and publishing your data and source code –Procedures to follow, precautions to take, and analytical software that can help Scientists: Read this concise, powerful guide to help you produce statistically sound research. Statisticians: Give this book to everyone you know. The first step toward statistics done right is Statistics Done Wrong.

Introduction to the New Statistics

Introduction to the New Statistics PDF

Author: Geoff Cumming

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-10-04

Total Pages: 564

ISBN-13: 1317483375

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This is the first introductory statistics text to use an estimation approach from the start to help readers understand effect sizes, confidence intervals (CIs), and meta-analysis (‘the new statistics’). It is also the first text to explain the new and exciting Open Science practices, which encourage replication and enhance the trustworthiness of research. In addition, the book explains NHST fully so students can understand published research. Numerous real research examples are used throughout. The book uses today’s most effective learning strategies and promotes critical thinking, comprehension, and retention, to deepen users’ understanding of statistics and modern research methods. The free ESCI (Exploratory Software for Confidence Intervals) software makes concepts visually vivid, and provides calculation and graphing facilities. The book can be used with or without ESCI. Other highlights include: - Coverage of both estimation and NHST approaches, and how to easily translate between the two. - Some exercises use ESCI to analyze data and create graphs including CIs, for best understanding of estimation methods. -Videos of the authors describing key concepts and demonstrating use of ESCI provide an engaging learning tool for traditional or flipped classrooms. -In-chapter exercises and quizzes with related commentary allow students to learn by doing, and to monitor their progress. -End-of-chapter exercises and commentary, many using real data, give practice for using the new statistics to analyze data, as well as for applying research judgment in realistic contexts. -Don’t fool yourself tips help students avoid common errors. -Red Flags highlight the meaning of "significance" and what p values actually mean. -Chapter outlines, defined key terms, sidebars of key points, and summarized take-home messages provide a study tool at exam time. -http://www.routledge.com/cw/cumming offers for students: ESCI downloads; data sets; key term flashcards; tips for using SPSS for analyzing data; and videos. For instructors it offers: tips for teaching the new statistics and Open Science; additional homework exercises; assessment items; answer keys for homework and assessment items; and downloadable text images; and PowerPoint lecture slides. Intended for introduction to statistics, data analysis, or quantitative methods courses in psychology, education, and other social and health sciences, researchers interested in understanding the new statistics will also appreciate this book. No familiarity with introductory statistics is assumed.

The Seven Pillars of Statistical Wisdom

The Seven Pillars of Statistical Wisdom PDF

Author: Stephen M. Stigler

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2016-03-07

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780674088917

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What gives statistics its unity as a science? Stephen Stigler sets forth the seven foundational ideas of statistics—a scientific discipline related to but distinct from mathematics and computer science. Even the most basic idea—aggregation, exemplified by averaging—is counterintuitive. It allows one to gain information by discarding information, namely, the individuality of the observations. Stigler’s second pillar, information measurement, challenges the importance of “big data” by noting that observations are not all equally important: the amount of information in a data set is often proportional to only the square root of the number of observations, not the absolute number. The third idea is likelihood, the calibration of inferences with the use of probability. Intercomparison is the principle that statistical comparisons do not need to be made with respect to an external standard. The fifth pillar is regression, both a paradox (tall parents on average produce shorter children; tall children on average have shorter parents) and the basis of inference, including Bayesian inference and causal reasoning. The sixth concept captures the importance of experimental design—for example, by recognizing the gains to be had from a combinatorial approach with rigorous randomization. The seventh idea is the residual: the notion that a complicated phenomenon can be simplified by subtracting the effect of known causes, leaving a residual phenomenon that can be explained more easily. The Seven Pillars of Statistical Wisdom presents an original, unified account of statistical science that will fascinate the interested layperson and engage the professional statistician.