Critical Statistics - Seeing Beyond the Headlines

List of contents

1. 99% of statistics are made up
2. Where do numbers come from?
3. Samples, samples everywhere
4. Measure for measure
5. What does it mean to be average?
6. Fraction of a man
7. Cause and effect
8. Bad graphics
9. Context is everything
10. Do it yourself

About the author

Robert de Vries is a Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Kent, UK.

Summary

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.

Accompanying online resources for this title can be found at bloomsburyonlineresources.com/critical-statistics. These resources are designed to support teaching and learning when using this textbook and are available at no extra cost.

Product details

• Authors: Robert de Vries, Robert de (Univ of Kent Vries
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 04.10.2018
• EAN: 9781137609793
• ISBN: 978-1-137-60979-3
• No. of pages: 250
• Dimensions: 150 mm x 229 mm x 15 mm
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; B, Research, Statistics, Criminology, biotechnology, Social Sciences, Psychology Research, Behavioral Sciences and Psychology, Methodology of the Social Sciences, research methodology, Social research & statistics, Psychological methodology, Statistics for Social Sciences, Humanities, Law, Crime & criminology, Experiential research, Research Methods in Criminology, Sociology—Research, Sociological Methods, numbers;sample;average;mean;measure;quantitative