Statistics for the Rest of Us: Mastering the Art of Understanding Data Without Math Skills (Advanced Thinking Skills Book 4)

five-step process: Define the question and figure out methodology; collect data; clean and summarize the data using descriptive statistics; process the data and apply hypotheses; make inferences and apply findings.[xii]

Keep these questions in mind when you encounter statistics: Question 1: How was the data collected, and did the data collection method match what the study was trying to figure out? This question gets at a study's validity, which means measuring what it is supposed to measure. Sometimes results are published, but sloppiness in the way the data was

Clusters are exactly what they sound like: where notable groups of data fall.

One of the most effective ways to get a representative sample is through a process of random sampling. Random sampling means that the sample group is chosen completely randomly (often by computer);

In your everyday life, you don’t need to know the formula or even have a solid mathematical understanding of the theorem to use its basic principle.

Once again, the median might have given you a better sense of how you did in comparison to others, and you might have felt even better about your grade.

the sample must be representative of the entire population, meaning it must share the same characteristics of it in the same proportions.

Put simply, p-values tell us how likely it is that something happened for a reason, not just because of random chance.

This chapter will look at five common pitfalls in statistics and how you, the average consumer, can recognize them.

Question 4: How is the data presented, and is the presentation misleading in any way? This question gets a whole chapter to itself (Chapter 9) because misleading statistical presentations are, unfortunately, very common in the media.