How To Approach Statistics

How To Approach Statistics

A great primer for approachng statistics if you have never studied the concept.

Reading Between the Numbers

How can we trust research?

The question is not trivial, since studies and statistics form the basis for many of the laws under which we live. If they are wrong, then the laws may be as well.

Short of taking a course on statistics and poring over data, the best way to get a sense of which data to trust is through common sense. There are five questions you should demand of any statistic.

1. Who Says So?
2. How Does He Know?
3. What does the competition say?
4. Did Someone Change the Subject?
5. Does It Make Sense?

Our society rewards those who construct problems. They receive financing and media attention, write books and become "experts." Statistics are tools and those who wield them should be neither glamorized nor ignored. But they should be required to answer basic questions before being included in that rare category: purveyor of truth.

You might also find and read the following books:

• Damned Lies and Statistics: Untangling Numbers from the Media, Politicians, and Activists by Joel Best, a look at the use of numbers in modern society; and
• How to Lie With Statistics
  by Darrell Huff - a classic from the 50's.