Mind on Statistics (6th. Ed) Chapter 1 - Statistics Success Stories and Cautionary Tales

Introduction

This book goes through the basics of inferential statistics and is written by Utts and Heckard.

Statistics: is a collection of procedures and principles for gathering data and analysing information to help people make decisions when faced with uncertainty.

Morals:

• Simple summaries of data can tell an interesting story and are easier to digest than long lists
• When you read about the change in the rate or risk of occurence of something, mmake sure you also find out the base rate or baseline risk
• A representative sample of only a few thousand, or perhaps even a few hundred, can give reasonably accurate information about a population of many millions
• An unrepresentative sample, even a large one, tells you almost nothing about the population
• Cause-and-effect conclusions cannot generally be made on the basis of an observational study
• Unlike with observational studies, cause-and-effect conclusions can generally be made on the basis of randomised experiments
• A statistically significant finding does not necessarily have practical signficance or importance. When a study reports a statistically signficant finding, find out the magnitude of the relationship or difference
• When you read about a study that found a relationship or difference, try to find out how many different things were tested. The more tests that are done, the more likely it is that a statistically significant difference is a false positive that can be explained by chance.