Critical Statistics
eBook - PDF

Critical Statistics

Seeing Beyond the Headlines

  1. 265 pages
  2. English
  3. PDF
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

Critical Statistics

Seeing Beyond the Headlines

About this book

Awarded the 2019 Most Promising New Textbook Award by the Textbook & Academic Authors Association. This accessible and entertaining new textbook provides students with the knowledge and skills they need to understand the barrage of numbers encountered in their everyday lives and studies. Almost all the statistics in the news, on social media or in scientific reports are based on just a few core concepts, including measurement (ensuring we count the right thing), causation (determining whether one thing causes another) and sampling (using just a few people to understand a whole population). By explaining these concepts in plain language, without complex mathematics, this book prepares students to meet the statistical world head on and to begin their own quantitative research projects. Ideal for students facing statistical research for the first time, or for anyone interested in understanding more about the numbers in the news, this textbook helps students to see beyond the headlines and behind the numbers.

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CRITICAL 
STATISTICS: 
SEEING 
BEYOND 
THE 
HEADLINES
36
CLAIM
ORGANISATION 
BEHIND 
THE 
STATISTIC
LIKELY 
AGENDA?
STATISTIC 
CHALLENGED?
VERDICT
Exercises 
for 
Chapter 
2
Exercise 
1: 
Follow 
the 
press-release
Below 
are 
links 
to 
three 
press-releases. 
For 
each 
release, 
try 
to 
answer 
the 
following 
questions:
1. 
Imagine 
you 
are 
a 
journalist 
writing 
for 
a 
national 
newspaper. 
This 
press-
release 
has 
just 
arrived 
in 
your 
inbox. 
Should 
you 
write 
it 
up 
as 
a 
news 
story? 
In 
other 
words, 
do 
you 
think 
the 
information 
in 
the 
press-release 
qualifies
as
‘news’?
If
not,
why
not?
2. 
Why 
might 
the 
company 
sending 
the 
press-release 
want 
this 
story 
to 
appear 
in 
the 
news 
media?
3. 
Have 
these 
press-releases 
actually 
been 
covered 
in 
the 
media? 
If 
so:
a. 
Which 
outlets 
have 
covered 
them?
b. 
How 
much 
has 
the 
journalist 
changed 
from 
the 
original 
press-release? 
Has 
any 
new 
information 
been 
added?
c. 
Who 
is 
given 
as 
the 
author 
of 
the 
news 
story?

Table of contents

  1. Contents
  2. LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES
  3. Abbreviations
  4. Preface
  5. TOUR OF THE BOOK
  6. GUIDE TO THE WEBSITE
  7. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  8. 1: 99% of Statistics are made up
  9. 2: Where do NumbersCome From?
  10. 3: SAMPLES, SAMPLES EVERYWHERE …
  11. 4: MEASURE FOR MEASURE
  12. 5: What Does it Mean to be Average?
  13. 6: Fraction of a Man
  14. 7 Cause and Efect
  15. 8 Bad Graphics
  16. 9: Context is Everything
  17. 10: Do it Yourself
  18. NOTES
  19. Index

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Yes, you can access Critical Statistics by Robert de Vries in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Social Sciences & Research & Methodology in Psychology. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.