"Revised and updated edition of a standard in the field. Alerts readers to the problems, inherent in statistical practice-illustrating the types of misused statistics with well-documented, real-world examples, nearly half new to this edition, drawn from a wide range of areas, including the media, public policy, polls and surveys, political elections and debates, advertising, science and health care, and business and economics."
How much should we trust the polls on the latest electoral campaign? When a physician tells us that a diagnosis of cancer is 90% certain or a nutritionist tells us what is healthy to eat, what should we believe? Questions such as these are greatly important, yet many of us have only a vague sense of how to answer them. In Is That a Fact?, Mark Battersby aims not only to explain how to identify misleading statistics and research, but also to give readers the understanding necessary to evaluate and use statistical information in their own decision making. This second edition is revised and updated throughout and includes a new chapter on weighing risk in personal and public decision making.
Revised and updated edition that analyses how the Office of National Drug Control Policy employs statistics to misleadingly claim the War on Drugs is a success. First published in 2007, Lies, Damned Lies, and Drug War Statistics critically analyzed claims made by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), the White House agency of accountability in the nations drug war since 1989, as found in the six editions of the annual National Drug Control Strategy between 2000 and 2005. In this revised and updated second edition of their critically acclaimed work, Matthew B. Robinson and Renee G. Scherlen examine seven more recent editions (20062012) to once again determine if ONDCP accurately and honestly presents information or intentionally distorts evidence to justify continuing the drug war. They uncover the many ways in which ONDCP manipulates statistics and visually presents that information to the public. Their analysis demonstrates a drug war that consistently fails to reduce drug use, drug fatalities, or illnesses associated with drug use; fails to provide treatment for drug-dependent users; and drives up the prices of drugs. They conclude with policy recommendations for reforming ONDCPs use of statistics, as well as how the nation fights the war on drugs. Praise for the First Edition Lies, Damned Lies, and Drug War Statistics is surprisingly easy to read, and Robinson and Scherlen have done a huge favor not only to critics of current drug policy by compiling this damning critique of ONDCP claims, but also to anyone interested in how data is compiled, presented, and misused by bureaucrats attempting to guard their domains. It should be required reading for members of Congress. Drug War Chronicle Book Review The authors have performed a valuable service to our democracy with their meticulous analysis of the White House ONDCP public statements and reports. They have pulled the sheet off what appears to be an official policy of deception using clever and sometimes clumsy attempts at statistical manipulation. This document, at last, gives us a map of the truth. Mike Gray, author of Drug Crazy: How We Got into This Mess and How We Can Get Out Robinson and Scherlen make a valuable contribution to documenting how ONDCP fails to live up to basic standards of accountability and consistency. Ethan Nadelmann, Executive Director, Drug Policy Alliance
The book aims to provide both comprehensive reviews of the classical methods and an introduction to new developments in medical statistics. The topics range from meta analysis, clinical trial design, causal inference, personalized medicine to machine learning and next generation sequence analysis. Since the publication of the first edition, there have been tremendous advances in biostatistics and bioinformatics. The new edition tries to cover as many important emerging areas and reflect as much progress as possible. Many distinguished scholars, who greatly advanced their research areas in statistical methodology as well as practical applications, also have revised several chapters with relevant updates and written new ones from scratch.The new edition has been divided into four sections, including, Statistical Methods in Medicine and Epidemiology, Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials, Statistical Genetics, and General Methods. To reflect the rise of modern statistical genetics as one of the most fertile research areas since the publication of the first edition, the brand new section on Statistical Genetics includes entirely new chapters reflecting the state of the art in the field.Although tightly related, all the book chapters are self-contained and can be read independently. The book chapters intend to provide a convenient launch pad for readers interested in learning a specific topic, applying the related statistical methods in their scientific research and seeking the newest references for in-depth research.
Scientific progress depends on good research, and good research needs good statistics. But statistical analysis is tricky to get right, even for the best and brightest of us. You'd be surprised how many scientists are doing it wrong. Statistics Done Wrong is a pithy, essential guide to statistical blunders in modern science that will show you how to keep your research blunder-free. You'll examine embarrassing errors and omissions in recent research, learn about the misconceptions and scientific politics that allow these mistakes to happen, and begin your quest to reform the way you and your peers do statistics. You'll find advice on: –Asking the right question, designing the right experiment, choosing the right statistical analysis, and sticking to the plan –How to think about p values, significance, insignificance, confidence intervals, and regression –Choosing the right sample size and avoiding false positives –Reporting your analysis and publishing your data and source code –Procedures to follow, precautions to take, and analytical software that can help Scientists: Read this concise, powerful guide to help you produce statistically sound research. Statisticians: Give this book to everyone you know. The first step toward statistics done right is Statistics Done Wrong.
Not a numbers person? No problem! This new edition is aimed at high school and college students who need to take statistics to fulfill a degree requirement and follows a standard statistics curriculum. Readerswill find information on frequency distributions; mean, median, and mode; range, variance, and standard deviation;probability; and more. -Emphasizes Microsoft Excel for number-crunching and computations Download a sample chapter.
Roping the reader in with humor and real-world case examples presented as mysteries to be solved, this engaging text has been updated with new cases, the latest version of SPSS, and new coverage of multivariate analysis of variance. Steven R. Terrell prepares students and practitioners to become informed consumers of statistics so that they can make decisions based on data, and understand decisions others have made. He identifies six simple steps and guides readers to master them--from identifying a researchable problem to stating a hypothesis; identifying independent and dependent variables; and selecting, computing, and interpreting appropriate statistical tests. All techniques are demonstrated both manually and with the help of SPSS software. New to This Edition *All software instructions and examples are updated to SPSS Version 25. *Expanded chapter on the analysis of variance (ANOVA)--now covers multivariate ANOVA. *New and revised examples and quiz items pertaining to a broader range of fields, such as business, information systems, and medical sciences, along with education and psychology. Pedagogical Features *Examples of SPSS screenshots used for analyzing data. *User-friendly cautionary notes, "Putting it All Together" recaps, and alerts, such as "notice the effect size" or "check the direction of the mean scores." *End-of-chapter "Quiz Time" exercises that guide students to answer intriguing questions like whether working from home increases productivity, or whether age affects how long it takes to complete a doctoral degree. *Lists of key terms and formulas in each chapter, plus end-of-book glossary.
Bridging the gap between statistics texts and SAS documentation, Elementary Statistics Using SAS is written for those who want to perform analyses to solve problems. The first section of the book explains the basics of SAS data sets and shows how to use SAS for descriptive statistics and graphs. The second section discusses fundamental statistical concepts, including normality and hypothesis testing. The remaining sections of the book show analyses for comparing two groups, comparing multiple groups, fitting regression equations, and exploring contingency tables. For each analysis, author Sandra Schlotzhauer explains assumptions, statistical approach, and SAS methods and syntax, and makes conclusions from the results. Statistical methods covered include two-sample t-tests, paired-difference t-tests, analysis of variance, multiple comparison techniques, regression, regression diagnostics, and chi-square tests. Elementary Statistics Using SAS is a thoroughly revised and updated edition of Ramon Littell and Sandra Schlotzhauer's SAS System for Elementary Statistical Analysis.
An insightful guide to the use of statistics for solving key problems in modern-day business and industry This book has been awarded the Technometrics Ziegel Prize for the best book reviewed by the journal in 2010. Technometrics is a journal of statistics for the physical, chemical and engineering sciences, published jointly by the American Society for Quality and the American Statistical Association. Criteria for the award include that the book brings together in one volume a body of material previously only available in scattered research articles and having the potential to significantly improve practice in engineering and science. Highlighting the relevance of statistical methods in everyday applications, The Role of Statistics in Business and Industry bridges the gap between the tools of statistics and their use in today's business world. This one-of-a-kind resource encourages the proactive use of statistics in three well-organized and succinct parts: Setting the Stage provides an introduction to statistics, with a general overview of its uses in business and industry Manufactured Product Applications explains how statistical techniques assist in designing, building, improving, and ensuring the reliability of a wide variety of manufactured products such as appliances, plastic materials, aircraft engines, and locomotives Other Applications describe the role of statistics in pharmaceuticals, finance, and business services, as well as more specialized areas including the food, semiconductor, and communications industries This book is truly unique in that it first describes case studies and key business problems, and then shows how statistics is used to address them, while most literature on the topic does the reverse. This approach provides a comprehensive understanding of common issues and the most effective methods for their treatment. Each chapter concludes with general questions that allow the reader to test their understanding of the presented statistical concepts as well as technical questions that raise more complex issues. An extensive FTP site provides additional material, including solutions to some of the applications. With its accessible style and real-world examples, The Role of Statistics in Business and Industry is a valuable supplement for courses on applied statistics and statistical consulting at the upper-undergraduate and graduate levels. It is also an ideal resource for early-career statisticians and practitioners who would like to learn the value of applying statistics to their everyday work.
