eBook - PDF

Is That a Fact? - Second Edition

Name: Is That a Fact? - Second Edition
Author: Mark Battersby

A Field Guide to Statistical and Scientific Information

Mark Battersby,

304 pages
English
PDF
Available on iOS & Android

eBook - PDF

Is That a Fact? - Second Edition

A Field Guide to Statistical and Scientific Information

Mark Battersby,

About this book

How much should we trust the polls on the latest electoral campaign? When a physician tells us that a diagnosis of cancer is 90% certain or a nutritionist tells us what is healthy to eat, what should we believe? Questions such as these are greatly important, yet many of us have only a vague sense of how to answer them. In Is That a Fact?, Mark Battersby aims not only to explain how to identify misleading statistics and research, but also to give readers the understanding necessary to evaluate and use statistical information in their own decision making. This second edition is revised and updated throughout and includes a new chapter on weighing risk in personal and public decision making.

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Yes, you can access Is That a Fact? - Second Edition by Mark Battersby in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Philosophy & Philosophy History & Theory. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Information

Publisher

Broadview Press

Year

2016

eBook ISBN

9781770485983

Edition

Topic

Philosophy

Subtopic

Philosophy History & Theory

CHAPTER 

1

n

HOW

TO

LI(V)E 

WITH 

STATISTICS

11

e 

great 

advantages 

of

using 

primary 

research 

are

that 

it

can

be

the

most 

current 

and

detailed 

research 

available

,

it

has

been 

assessed 

by

fellow 

profes-

sionals 

(articles 

are

subject 

to

“

peer 

review

”

before 

they 

are

published), 

and

it

is

not

“interpreted” 

by

someone 

else. 

If

you

are

willing 

to

put

in

the

eﬀort, 

you

can

be

“liberated” 

from 

the

frustration 

of

“I 

don’t 

know, 

but

‘they 

say.’”

My

sister-in-law’s 

life 

was

saved 

because 

a

number 

of

laypeople 

did

criti-

cal

research. 

We

evaluated 

and

used 

information 

gathered 

from 

professionals, 

scientiﬁc 

studies, 

and

statistical 

research; 

we

used 

critical 

thinking 

to

make 

a

diﬀerence 

in

her

life. 

My

intent 

is

that 

this 

book 

will 

help 

you

become 

a

better 

and

more 

eﬀective 

critical 

thinker 

who

can

also 

make 

the

best 

use

of

scientiﬁc 

and

statistical 

information 

to

make 

a

diﬀerence 

in

your 

life.

Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter 1: How to Li(v)e with Statistics: Why We Need to Think about Statistical and Scientific Information
Chapter 2: Introduction to Critical Thinking
Chapter 3: Polling: The Basics
Chapter 4: Sampling Woes and Other Biases
Chapter 5: The Facts Ma’am, Nothing but the Facts: Getting Good Data
Chapter 6: Making Senseof Data: What Does It All Mean?
Chapter 7: The Power of Graphs
Chapter 8: Correlations: What Goes with What?
Chapter 9: Finding the Cause: Evaluating Causal Claims
Chapter 10: Evaluating Scientific Claims: Looking at the Context
Chapter 11: Using What You’ve Learned: Finding and Evaluating Scientific Information
Chapter 12: Probability and Judgment
Chapter 13: Studies Show, but So What?
Chapter 14: Decision-Making Examples: Individual Risk, Uncertainty, and Public Policy
Glossary
Index

9781405171908,

About this book

Frequently asked questions

Information

Table of contents