We’ve just published Chris Olsen’s Teaching Elementary Statistics with JMP, which offers the latest research on best practices and how JMP can facilitate teaching statistics. To mark the book’s publication, we asked Chris to tell us the top three things every elementary statistics student should know.
- Statistics is about numbers in a context. Statistics has a rich trove of numeric and graphic techniques for quantifying and displaying data, and certainly it is important to be able to generate the numbers graphs. But the really interesting and exciting part about statistics is the leap from numbers and graphs to the real world of interpretation. Statistics gives us both knowledge and a healthy skepticism about what we believe we know – a fascinating philosophical tension!
- The most crucial part of a statistical study is not the analysis – it is where, when, and how of the data gathering. As we enter our data and calculate and plot our statistical strategies, it is sometimes forgotten at the interpretation stage that each data point, each number, is the product of a fallible machine, human or mechanical. Care taken at the sampling and observation stage will pay great dividends on the interpretation end of our statistical efforts.
- Statistics, of all the mathematical sciences, depends on clear two-way communication, by both the statistician and the non-statistical client/audience. Statistics targets public social and scientific questions of importance. The statistician must be able to communicate with the public, who by and large are not statisticians. The public, for its part, must have enough statistical knowledge to grasp the information the statistician provides. This necessity for communication has profound implications for the inclusion of statistics at all levels in the K-12 and college mathematics curriculum.
Do you agree? What other ideas are key to understanding elementary statistics? Tell us, or read more in Chris Olsen’s new book, also available in Google eBook format.
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9 Comments
Taking class right now and it just amazing what I have already learned
In the business world, statistics without a business objective is worth nothing. Keep in mind what the decisions you are trying to make, and let numbers guide the decision. Without keeping focus on that end goal, you will often find yourself in paralysis by analysis.
Hi Geoff, congratulations also on winning Chris Olsen's new book! Thanks for submitting your comment. I'll send you an email requesting your address in a few.
I agree completely with Chris! In today's business world, we all continiously have to balance between simplicity in presentation, while delivering in-depth and complex analysis with massive amoutns of data. Only with a solid understanding of the basics, you can find the happy median ;-) between these goals!
Hi Barry, congrats on winning a copy of this book and thank you for reading this post! I'll send you an email requesting your address.
First 3 to comment on why you want this new #JMP book on our blog post http://ow.ly/8Rggz - win a copy! US/Canada only
I suppose it's because I don't use JMP software, but do use statistics a lot. Base SAS has always served my needs well, but perhaps JMP would allow me to make the data more interactive to my clientele. My reason: exploring JMP as a potential use for my office.
Hi Andy, congratulations on winning a free copy of the book and thanks for sharing your comments with us!
Chris, I can definitely relate. I avoided becoming a Psych major solely because of the statistics requirement. If only I knew then....!
This might be a side-effect of my job today, but if there is one thing that I wished I learned more of during my primary and secondary education, it's statistics. With my above-average exposure to the topic in my daily work, I still feel like I'm playing "catch up"!