Beyond Basic Statistics E-Book

Kristin H. Jarman

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 303

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

Features basic statistical concepts as a tool for thinking critically, wading through large quantities of information, and answering practical, everyday questions Written in an engaging and inviting manner, Beyond Basic Statistics: Tips, Tricks, and Techniques Every Data Analyst Should Know presents the more subjective side of statistics--the art of data analytics. Each chapter explores a different question using fun, common sense examples that illustrate the concepts, methods, and applications of statistical techniques. Without going into the specifics of theorems, propositions, or formulas, the book effectively demonstrates statistics as a useful problem-solving tool. In addition, the author demonstrates how statistics is a tool for thinking critically, wading through large volumes of information, and answering life's important questions. Beyond Basic Statistics: Tips, Tricks, and Techniques Every Data Analyst Should Know also features: * Plentiful examples throughout aimed to strengthen readers' understanding of the statistical concepts and methods * A step-by-step approach to elementary statistical topics such as sampling, hypothesis tests, outlier detection, normality tests, robust statistics, and multiple regression * A case study in each chapter that illustrates the use of the presented techniques * Highlights of well-known shortcomings that can lead to false conclusions * An introduction to advanced techniques such as validation and bootstrapping Featuring examples that are engaging and non-application specific, the book appeals to a broad audience of students and professionals alike, specifically students of undergraduate statistics, managers, medical professionals, and anyone who has to make decisions based on raw data or compiled results.

Leseprobe

BEYOND BASIC STATISTICS

Tips, Tricks, and Techniques Every Data Analyst Should Know

KRISTIN H. JARMAN

Copyright © 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All rights reserved

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New JerseyPublished simultaneously in Canada

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, [phone], fax [phone], or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, [phone], fax [phone], or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Jarman, Kristin H. Beyond basic statistics: tips, tricks, and techniques every data analyst should know / K.H. Jarman.  pages cm Includes index.

 ISBN 978-1-118-85611-6 (pbk.)1. Mathematical statistics–Popular works. I. Title. QA276.J37 2015 001.4′22–dc23

      2014047952

To Anna and Sarah

When something doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t.

PREFACE

I’ve had my share of mistakes: spilled coffee, insensitive remarks, and red socks thrown into a load of white laundry. These are daily occurrences in my life. But it isn’t these little, private mishaps that haunt me. It’s the big ones, the data analysis disasters, the public humiliations resulting from my own carelessness, mistakes that only reveal themselves when I’m standing in front of a room full of important people, declaring the brilliance of my statistical conclusions to the world.

Fortunately, these humiliations appear much more often in my dreams than they do in real life. When they do happen, however, they hit me when I least expect them, when I’m rushed, or when I’m overconfident in my results. All of them are accidental. I certainly never mean to misinform, but when you analyze as much data as I do, small mistakes are bound to happen every now and then.

This book highlights some of the well-known shortcomings of basic statistics, shortcomings that can, if ignored, lead to false conclusions. It provides tips and tricks to help you spot problem areas in your data analysis and covers techniques to help you overcome them. If, somewhere within the chapters of this book, you find information that prevents you from experiencing your own statistical humiliation, then exposing my own embarrassment will have been worth it.

KRISTIN H. JARMAN

1INTRODUCTION: IT SEEMED LIKE THE RIGHT THING TO DO AT THE TIME

As a seasoned statistical scientist, I like to think I’m invincible when it comes to drawing reliable conclusions from data. I’m not, of course. Nobody is. Even the world’s best data analysts make mistakes now and then. This is what makes us human.