Statistical Misconceptions

Statistical Misconceptions PDF Author: Schuyler Huck
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317311566
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 321

Get Book Here

Book Description
This engaging book helps readers identify and then discard 52 misconceptions about data and statistical summaries. The focus is on major concepts contained in typical undergraduate and graduate courses in statistics, research methods, or quantitative analysis. Interactive Internet exercises that further promote undoing the misconceptions are found on the book's website. The author’s accessible discussion of each misconception has five parts: The Misconception - a brief description of the misunderstanding Evidence that the Misconception Exists – examples and claimed prevalence Why the Misconception is Dangerous – consequence of having the misunderstanding Undoing the Misconception - how to think correctly about the concept Internet Assignment - an interactive activity to help readers gain a firm grasp of the statistical concept and overcome the misconception. The book's statistical misconceptions are grouped into 12 chapters that match the topics typically taught in introductory/intermediate courses. However, each of the 52 discussions is self-contained, thus allowing the misconceptions to be covered in any order without confusing the reader. Organized and presented in this manner, the book is an ideal supplement for any standard textbook. An ideal supplement for undergraduate and graduate courses in statistics, research methods, or quantitative analysis taught in psychology, education, business, nursing, medicine, and the social sciences. The book also appeals to independent researchers interested in undoing their statistical misconceptions.

Statistical Misconceptions

Statistical Misconceptions PDF Author: Schuyler Huck
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317311566
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 321

Get Book Here

Book Description
This engaging book helps readers identify and then discard 52 misconceptions about data and statistical summaries. The focus is on major concepts contained in typical undergraduate and graduate courses in statistics, research methods, or quantitative analysis. Interactive Internet exercises that further promote undoing the misconceptions are found on the book's website. The author’s accessible discussion of each misconception has five parts: The Misconception - a brief description of the misunderstanding Evidence that the Misconception Exists – examples and claimed prevalence Why the Misconception is Dangerous – consequence of having the misunderstanding Undoing the Misconception - how to think correctly about the concept Internet Assignment - an interactive activity to help readers gain a firm grasp of the statistical concept and overcome the misconception. The book's statistical misconceptions are grouped into 12 chapters that match the topics typically taught in introductory/intermediate courses. However, each of the 52 discussions is self-contained, thus allowing the misconceptions to be covered in any order without confusing the reader. Organized and presented in this manner, the book is an ideal supplement for any standard textbook. An ideal supplement for undergraduate and graduate courses in statistics, research methods, or quantitative analysis taught in psychology, education, business, nursing, medicine, and the social sciences. The book also appeals to independent researchers interested in undoing their statistical misconceptions.

Statistical Misconceptions

Statistical Misconceptions PDF Author: Schuyler W. Huck
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135596344
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 314

Get Book Here

Book Description
Brief and inexpensive, this engaging book helps readers identify and then discard 52 misconceptions about data and statistical summaries. The focus is on major concepts contained in typical undergraduate and graduate courses in statistics, research methods, or quantitative analysis. Fun interactive Internet exercises that further promote undoing the misconceptions are found on the book's website. The author’s accessible discussion of each misconception has five parts: The Misconception - a brief description of the misunderstanding Evidence that the Misconception Exists – examples and claimed prevalence Why the Misconception is Dangerous – consequence of having the misunderstanding Undoing the Misconception - how to think correctly about the concept Internet Assignment - an interactive activity to help readers gain a firm grasp of the statistical concept and overcome the misconception. The book's statistical misconceptions are grouped into 12 chapters that match the topics typically taught in introductory/intermediate courses. However, each of the 52 discussions is self-contained, thus allowing the misconceptions to be covered in any order without confusing the reader. Organized and presented in this manner, the book is an ideal supplement for any standard textbook. Statistical Misconceptions is appropriate for courses taught in a variety of disciplines including psychology, medicine, education, nursing, business, and the social sciences. The book also will benefit independent researchers interested in undoing their statistical misconceptions.

Statistical and Methodological Myths and Urban Legends

Statistical and Methodological Myths and Urban Legends PDF Author: Charles E. Lance
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135269661
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 433

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book provides an up-to-date review of commonly undertaken methodological and statistical practices that are sustained, in part, upon sound rationale and justification and, in part, upon unfounded lore. Some examples of these "methodological urban legends", as we refer to them in this book, are characterized by manuscript critiques such as: (a) "your self-report measures suffer from common method bias"; (b) "your item-to-subject ratios are too low"; (c) "you can’t generalize these findings to the real world"; or (d) "your effect sizes are too low". Historically, there is a kernel of truth to most of these legends, but in many cases that truth has been long forgotten, ignored or embellished beyond recognition. This book examines several such legends. Each chapter is organized to address: (a) what the legend is that "we (almost) all know to be true"; (b) what the "kernel of truth" is to each legend; (c) what the myths are that have developed around this kernel of truth; and (d) what the state of the practice should be. This book meets an important need for the accumulation and integration of these methodological and statistical practices.

Statistics Done Wrong

Statistics Done Wrong PDF Author: Alex Reinhart
Publisher: No Starch Press
ISBN: 1593276206
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 177

Get Book Here

Book Description
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.

Statistical Inference as Severe Testing

Statistical Inference as Severe Testing PDF Author: Deborah G. Mayo
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108563309
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 503

Get Book Here

Book Description
Mounting failures of replication in social and biological sciences give a new urgency to critically appraising proposed reforms. This book pulls back the cover on disagreements between experts charged with restoring integrity to science. It denies two pervasive views of the role of probability in inference: to assign degrees of belief, and to control error rates in a long run. If statistical consumers are unaware of assumptions behind rival evidence reforms, they can't scrutinize the consequences that affect them (in personalized medicine, psychology, etc.). The book sets sail with a simple tool: if little has been done to rule out flaws in inferring a claim, then it has not passed a severe test. Many methods advocated by data experts do not stand up to severe scrutiny and are in tension with successful strategies for blocking or accounting for cherry picking and selective reporting. Through a series of excursions and exhibits, the philosophy and history of inductive inference come alive. Philosophical tools are put to work to solve problems about science and pseudoscience, induction and falsification.

The Teaching and Learning of Statistics

The Teaching and Learning of Statistics PDF Author: Dani Ben-Zvi
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319234706
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 325

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book presents the breadth and diversity of empirical and practical work done on statistics education around the world. A wide range of methods are used to respond to the research questions that form it's base. Case studies of single students or teachers aimed at understanding reasoning processes, large-scale experimental studies attempting to generalize trends in the teaching and learning of statistics are both employed. Various epistemological stances are described and utilized. The teaching and learning of statistics is presented in multiple contexts in the book. These include designed settings for young children, students in formal schooling, tertiary level students, vocational schools, and teacher professional development. A diversity is evident also in the choices of what to teach (curriculum), when to teach (learning trajectory), how to teach (pedagogy), how to demonstrate evidence of learning (assessment) and what challenges teachers and students face when they solve statistical problems (reasoning and thinking).

The Analysis of Covariance and Alternatives

The Analysis of Covariance and Alternatives PDF Author: Bradley Huitema
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118067460
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 562

Get Book Here

Book Description
A complete guide to cutting-edge techniques and best practices for applying covariance analysis methods The Second Edition of Analysis of Covariance and Alternatives sheds new light on its topic, offering in-depth discussions of underlying assumptions, comprehensive interpretations of results, and comparisons of distinct approaches. The book has been extensively revised and updated to feature an in-depth review of prerequisites and the latest developments in the field. The author begins with a discussion of essential topics relating to experimental design and analysis, including analysis of variance, multiple regression, effect size measures and newly developed methods of communicating statistical results. Subsequent chapters feature newly added methods for the analysis of experiments with ordered treatments, including two parametric and nonparametric monotone analyses as well as approaches based on the robust general linear model and reversed ordinal logistic regression. Four groundbreaking chapters on single-case designs introduce powerful new analyses for simple and complex single-case experiments. This Second Edition also features coverage of advanced methods including: Simple and multiple analysis of covariance using both the Fisher approach and the general linear model approach Methods to manage assumption departures, including heterogeneous slopes, nonlinear functions, dichotomous dependent variables, and covariates affected by treatments Power analysis and the application of covariance analysis to randomized-block designs, two-factor designs, pre- and post-test designs, and multiple dependent variable designs Measurement error correction and propensity score methods developed for quasi-experiments, observational studies, and uncontrolled clinical trials Thoroughly updated to reflect the growing nature of the field, Analysis of Covariance and Alternatives is a suitable book for behavioral and medical scineces courses on design of experiments and regression and the upper-undergraduate and graduate levels. It also serves as an authoritative reference work for researchers and academics in the fields of medicine, clinical trials, epidemiology, public health, sociology, and engineering.

Standard Deviations

Standard Deviations PDF Author: Gary Smith
Publisher: Abrams
ISBN: 1468310682
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 192

Get Book Here

Book Description
How statistical data is used, misused, and abused every day to fool us: “A very entertaining book about a very serious problem.” —Robert J. Shiller, winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics and author of Irrational Exuberance Did you know that baseball players whose names begin with “D” are more likely to die young? That Asian Americans are most susceptible to heart attacks on the fourth day of the month? That drinking a full pot of coffee every morning adds years to your life, but one cup a day increases your pancreatic cancer risk? These “facts” have been argued with a straight face by credentialed researchers and backed up with reams of data and convincing statistics. As Nobel Prize–winning economist Ronald Coase cynically observed, “If you torture data long enough, it will confess.” Lying with statistics is a time-honored con. In Standard Deviations, economics professor Gary Smith walks us through the various tricks and traps that people use to back up their own crackpot theories. Sometimes, the unscrupulous deliberately try to mislead us. Other times, the well-intentioned are blissfully unaware of the mischief they are committing. Today, data is so plentiful that researchers spend precious little time distinguishing between good, meaningful indicators and total rubbish. Not only do others use data to fool us, we fool ourselves. Drawing on breakthrough research in behavioral economics and using clear examples, Standard Deviations demystifies the science behind statistics and makes it easy to spot the fraud all around us. “An entertaining primer . . . packed with figures, tables, graphs and ludicrous examples from people who know better (academics, scientists) and those who don’t (political candidates, advertisers).” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Statistical Remedies for Medical Researchers

Statistical Remedies for Medical Researchers PDF Author: Peter F. Thall
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030437140
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 297

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book illustrates numerous statistical practices that are commonly used by medical researchers, but which have severe flaws that may not be obvious. For each example, it provides one or more alternative statistical methods that avoid misleading or incorrect inferences being made. The technical level is kept to a minimum to make the book accessible to non-statisticians. At the same time, since many of the examples describe methods used routinely by medical statisticians with formal statistical training, the book appeals to a broad readership in the medical research community.

Translating Statistics to Make Decisions

Translating Statistics to Make Decisions PDF Author: Victoria Cox
Publisher: Apress
ISBN: 1484222563
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 334

Get Book Here

Book Description
Examine and solve the common misconceptions and fallacies that non-statisticians bring to their interpretation of statistical results. Explore the many pitfalls that non-statisticians—and also statisticians who present statistical reports to non-statisticians—must avoid if statistical results are to be correctly used for evidence-based business decision making. Victoria Cox, senior statistician at the United Kingdom’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), distills the lessons of her long experience presenting the actionable results of complex statistical studies to users of widely varying statistical sophistication across many disciplines: from scientists, engineers, analysts, and information technologists to executives, military personnel, project managers, and officials across UK government departments, industry, academia, and international partners. The author shows how faulty statistical reasoning often undermines the utility of statistical results even among those with advanced technical training. Translating Statistics teaches statistically naive readers enough about statistical questions, methods, models, assumptions, and statements that they will be able to extract the practical message from statistical reports and better constrain what conclusions cannot be made from the results. To non-statisticians with some statistical training, this book offers brush-ups, reminders, and tips for the proper use of statistics and solutions to common errors. To fellow statisticians, the author demonstrates how to present statistical output to non-statisticians to ensure that the statistical results are correctly understood and properly applied to real-world tasks and decisions. The book avoids algebra and proofs, but it does supply code written in R for those readers who are motivated to work out examples. Pointing along the way to instructive examples of statistics gone awry, Translating Statistics walks readers through the typical course of a statistical study, progressing from the experimental design stage through the data collection process, exploratory data analysis, descriptive statistics, uncertainty, hypothesis testing, statistical modelling and multivariate methods, to graphs suitable for final presentation. The steady focus throughout the book is on how to turn the mathematical artefacts and specialist jargon that are second nature to statisticians into plain English for corporate customers and stakeholders. The final chapter neatly summarizes the book’s lessons and insights for accurately communicating statistical reports to the non-statisticians who commission and act on them. What You'll Learn Recognize and avoid common errors and misconceptions that cause statistical studies to be misinterpreted and misused by non-statisticians in organizational settings Gain a practical understanding of the methods, processes, capabilities, and caveats of statistical studies to improve the application of statistical data to business decisions See how to code statistical solutions in R Who This Book Is For Non-statisticians—including both those with and without an introductory statistics course under their belts—who consume statistical reports in organizational settings, and statisticians who seek guidance for reporting statistical studies to non-statisticians in ways that will be accurately understood and will inform sound business and technical decisions