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Seeing Through Statistics, 3rd Edition
Comment from the Stata technical groupThis is a fascinating introductory book on statistics that discusses a fairly standard set of themes in methods, statistics, and statistical graphics with an absolute minimum of math, taking a broad array of well-chosen examples mostly from newspapers. If you use this book in an introductory statistics class and you still don’t succeed in convincing 80% of your students that learning statistics is important and is actually a lot of fun (even if you don’t plan a career as a researcher), it may be time to change professions. The book excels at “why” but does not go very deeply into “how”. For instance, it has good discussions of the pros and cons of experimental studies versus observation studies, the difference between significance and relevance, etc. These themes are more important but harder to convey than the (somewhat boring) discussions of, say, two-sample t tests with or without the assumption of a common variance. For this reason, you might want to emphasize those first concepts to your students as important themes. If you agree, you may want to take a look at this book. Table of contentsPart 1 Finding Data in Life
1 The Benefits and Risks of Using Statistics
1.1 Statistics
Case Study 1.1 Heart or Hypothalamus?
1.2 Detecting Patterns and Relationships
Case Study 1.2 Does Aspirin Prevent Heart Attacks?
1.3 Don’t Be Deceived by Improper Use of Statistics
Case Study 1.3 A Mistaken Accusation of Cheating
1.4 Summary and Conclusions
Exercises
Mini-Projects References 2 Reading the News
2.1 The Educated Consumer of Data
2.2 Origins of News Stories 2.3 How to Be a Statistics Sleuth: Seven Critical Components 2.4 Four Hypothetical Examples of Bad Reports
Case Study 2.1 Who Suffers from Hangovers?
2.5 Planning Your Own Study: Defining the Components in Advance
Case Study 2.2 Brooks Shoes Brings Flawed Study to Court
Exercises Mini-Projects References
3 Measurements, Mistakes, and Misunderstandings
3.1 Simple Measures Don’t Exist
3.2 It’s All in the Wording Case Study 3.1 No Opinion of Your Own? Let Politics Decide
3.3 Open or Closed Questions: Should Choices Be Given?3.4 Defining What Is Being Measured Case Study 3.2 Questions in Advertising
3.5 Defining a Common Language
Exercises
Mini-Projects References
4 How to Get a Good Sample
4.1 Common Research Strategies
4.2 Defining a Common Language 4.3 The Beauty of Sampling 4.4 Simple Random Sampling 4.5 Other Sampling Methods 4.6 Difficulties and Disasters in Sampling
Case Study 4.1 The Infamous Literary Digest Poll of
1936
Exercises Mini-Projects References
5 Experiments and Observational Studies
5.1 Defining a Common Language
5.2 Designing a Good Experiment Case Study 5.1 Quitting Smoking with Nicotine Patches
5.3 Difficulties and Disasters in ExperimentsCase Study 5.2 Exercise Yourself to Sleep
5.4 Designing a Good Observational Study ExperimentCase Study 5.3 Baldness and Heart Attacks
5.5 Difficulties and Disasters in Observational Studies
Exercises
Mini-Projects References
6 Getting the Big Picture
6.1 Final Questions
Case Study 6.1 Mozart, Relaxation, and Performance on Spatial Tasks
Case Study 6.2 Meditation and Aging Case Study 6.3 Drinking, Driving, and the Supreme Court Case Study 6.4 Smoking During Pregnancy and Child’s IQ Case Study 6.5 For Class Discussion: Guns and Homicides at Home Mini-Projects References
Part 2 Finding Life in Data
7 Summarizing and Displaying Measurement Data
7.1 Turning Data into Information
7.2 Picturing Data: Stemplots and Histograms 7.3 Five Useful Numbers: A Summary 7.4 Boxplots 7.5 Traditional Measures: Mean, Variance, and Standard Deviation
Case Study 7.1 Detecting Exam Cheating with a Histogram
For Those Who Like Formulas Exercises Mini-Projects References
8 Bell-Shaped Curves and Other Shapes
8.1 Populations, Frequency Curves, and Proportions
8.2 The Pervasiveness of Normal Curves 8.3 Percentiles and Standardized Scores 8.4 z-Scores and Familiar Intervals
For Those Who Like Formulas
Exercises References 9 Plots, Graphs, and Pictures
9.1 Well-Designed Statistical Pictures
9.2 Pictures of Categorical Data 9.3 Pictures of Measurement Variables 9.4 Difficulties and Disasters in Plots, Graphs, and Pictures 9.5 A Checklist for Statistical Pictures
Case Study 9.1 Time to Panic about Illicit Drug Use?
Exercises Mini-Projects References 10 Relationships Between Measurement Variables
10.1 Statistical Relationships
10.2 Strength versus Statistical Significance 10.3 Measuring Strength Through Correlation 10.4 Specifying Linear Relationships with Regression
Case Study 10.1 Are Attitudes about Love and Romance Hereditary?
Case Study 10.2 A Weighty Issue: Woman Want Less, Men Want More For Those Who Like Formulas Exercises Mini-Projects References 11 Relationships Can Be Deceiving
11.1 Illegitimate Correlations
11.2 Legitimate Correlation Does Not Imply Causation 11.3 Some Reasons for Relationships Between Variables 11.4 Confirming Causation
Exercises
Mini-Projects References 12 Relationships Between Categorical Variables
12.1 Displaying Relationships Between Categorical Variables:
Contingency Tables
12.2 Relative Risk, Increased Risk, and Odds 12.3 Misleading Statistics about Risk 12.4 Simpson’s Paradox: The Missing Third Variable
Case Study 12.1 Assessing Discrimination in Hiring and Firing
For Those Who Like Formulas Exercises Mini-Projects References 13 Statistical Significance for 2 x 2 Tables
13.1 Measuring the Strength of the Relationship
13.2 Steps for Assessing Statistical Significance 13.3 The Chi-Square Test 13.4 Practical versus Statistical Significance
For Those Who Like Formulas
Exercises Mini-Projects References 14 Reading the Economic News
14.1 Cost of Living: The Consumer Price Index
14.2 Uses of the Consumer Price Index 14.3 Criticisms of the Consumer Price Index 14.4 Economic Indicators
Case Study 14.1 Did Wages Really Go Up in the Reagan–Bush Years?
Exercises Mini-Projects References 15 Understanding and Reporting Trends over Time
15.1 Time Series
15.2 Components of Time Series 15.3 Seasonal Adjustments: Reporting the Consumer Price Index 15.4 Cautions and Checklist
Case Study 15.1 If You're Looking for a Job, Try May and October
Exercises Mini-Projects References Part 3 Understanding Uncertainty in Life
16 Understanding Probability and Long-Term Expectations
16.1 Probability
16.2 The Relative-Frequency Interpretation 16.3 The Personal-Probability Interpretation 16.4 Applying Some Simple Probability Rules 16.5 When Will It Happen? 16.6 Long-Term Gains, Losses, and Expectations
Case Study 16.1 Birthdays and Death Days — Is There a Connection?
For Those Who Like Formulas Exercises Mini-Projects References
17 Psychological Influences on Personal Probability
17.1 Revisiting Personal Probability
17.2 Equivalent Probabilities; Different Decisions 17.3 How Personal Probabilities Can Be Distorted 17.4 Optimism, Reluctance to Change, and Overconfidence 17.5 Calibrating Personal Probabilities of Experts Case Study 17.1 Calibrating Weather Forecasters and Physicians
16.7 Tips for Improving Your Personal Probabilities and Judgments
Exercises
Mini-Projects References
18 When Intuition Differs from Relative Frequency
18.1 Revisiting Relative Frequency
18.2 Coincidences 18.3 The Gambler’s Fallacy 18.4 Confusion of the Inverse Case Study 18.1 Streak Shooting in Basketball: Reality or Illusion?
18.5 Using Expected Values to Make Wise Decisions
Case Study 18.2 How Bad Is a Bet on the British Open?
For Those Who Like Formulas Exercises Mini-Projects References Part 4 Making Judgments from Surveys and Experiments
19 The Diversity of Samples from the Same Population
19.1 Setting the Stage
19.2 What to Expect of Sample Proportions 19.3 What to Expect of Sample Means 19.4 What to Expect in Other Situations
Case Study 19.1 Do Americans Really Vote When They Say They Do?
For Those Who Like Formulas Exercises Mini-Projects References 20 Estimating Proportions with Confidence
20.1 Confidence Intervals
20.2 Three Examples of Confidence Intervals from the Media 20.3 Constructing a Confidence Interval for a Proportion
Case Study 20.1 A Winning Confidence Interval Loses in Court
For Those Who Like Formulas Exercises Mini-Projects References 21 The Role of Confidence Intervals in Research
21.1 Confidence Intervals for Population Means
21.2 Confidence Intervals for the Difference Between Two Means 21.3 Revisiting Case Studies: How Journals Present Confidence Intervals 21.4 Understanding Any Confidence Interval
Case Study 21.1 Premenstrual Syndrome? Try Calcium
For Those Who Like Formulas Exercises Mini-Projects References 22 Rejecting Chance — Testing Hypotheses in Research
22.1 Using Data to Make Decisions
22.2 The Basic Steps for Testing Hypotheses 22.3 Testing Hypotheses for Proportions 22.4 What Can Go Wrong: The Two Types of Errors
Case Study 22.1 Testing for the Existence of Extrasensory Perception
Exercises Mini-Projects References 23 Hypothesis Testing — Examples and Case Studies
23.1 How Hypothesis Tests Are Reported in the News
23.2 Testing Hypotheses about Proportions and Means 23.3 Revisiting Case Studies: How Journals Present Hypothesis Tests
Case Study 23.1 An Interpretation of a p-Value Not Fit to Print
For Those Who Like Formulas Exercises Mini-Projects References 24 Significance, Importance, and Undetected Differences
24.1 Real Importance versus Statistical Significance
24.2 The Role of Sample Size in Statistical Significance 24.3 No Difference versus No Statistically Significant Difference Case Study 24.1 Seen a UFO? You May Be Healthier Than Your Friends
24.4 A Summary of Warnings
Case Study 24.2 Finding Loneliness on the Internet
Exercises Mini-Projects References 25 Meta-Analysis: Resolving Inconsistencies across Studies
25.1 The Need for Meta-Analysis
25.2 Two Important Decisions for the Analyst Case Study 25.1 Smoking and Reduced Fertility
25.3 Some Benefits of Meta-Analysis25.4 Criticisms of Meta-Analysis
Case Study 25.2 Controversy over Mammograms
Exercises Mini-Projects References 26 Ethics in Statistical Studies
26.1 Ethical Treatment of Human and Animal Participants
26.2 Assurance of Data Quality 26.3 Appropriate Statistical Analyses 26.4 Fair Reporting of Results Case Study 26.1 Science Fair Project or Fair Science Project?
Exercises Mini-Projects References 27 Putting What You Have Learned to the Test
Case Study 27.1 Cranberry Juice and Bladder Infections
Case Study 27.2 Children on the Go Case Study 27.3 It Really Is True about Aspirin Case Study 27.4 You Can Work and Get Your Exercise at the Same Time Case Study 27.5 Sex, Alcohol, and the First Date Case Study 27.6 Unpalatable Pâté Case Study 27.7 Nursing Moms Can Exercise, Too Case Study 27.8 So You Thought Spinach Was Good for You? Case Study 27.9 Chill Out — Move to Honolulu Case Study 27.10 So You Thought Hot Dogs Were Bad for You? References Contents of the Appendix and Accompanying CD
Appendix of News Stories
Solutions to Selected Exercises
Index
Credits
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