Portland Public Library

What is a P-value anyway?, 34 stories to help you actually understand statistics, Andrew Vickers

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 209-210) and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

What is a P-value anyway?

bibliography

319602638

Andrew Vickers

34 stories to help you actually understand statistics

Presents the essential concepts in thirty-four brief stories. Drawing on his experience as a medical researcher, Vickers blends explanations and humor with minimal math, to help readers understand and interpret the statistics they read every day

Introduction: I tell a friend that my job is more fun than you'd think : What is statistics? -- Describing data: So Bill Gates walks into a diner : On means and medians ; Bill Gates goes back to the diner : Standard deviation and interquartile range ; A skewed shot, a biased referee ; You can't have 2.6 children : On different types of data ; Why your high school math teacher was right : How to draw a graph -- Daily distributions: Chutes-and-ladders and serum hemoglobin levels : Thoughts on the normal distribution ; If the normal distribution is so normal, how come my data never are? ; But I like that sweater : What amount of fit is a "good enough" fit? -- Variation of study results: confidence intervals: Long hair : A standard error of the older male ; How to avoid a rainy wedding : Variation and confidence intervals ; Statistical ties, and why you shouldn't wear one : More on confidence intervals -- Hypothesis testing: Choosing a route to cycle home : What p-values do for us ; The probability of a dry toothbrush : What is a p-value anyway? ; Michael Jordan won't accept the null hypothesis : How to interpret high p-values ; The difference between sports and business : Thoughts on the t test and the Wilcoxon test ; Meeting up with friends : On sample size, precision and statistical power -- Regression and decision making: When to visit Chicago : About linear and logistic regression ; My assistant turns up for work with shorter hair : About regression and confounding ; I ignore my child's cough, my wife panics : About specificity and sensitivity ; Avoid the sales : Statistics to help make decisions -- Some common statistical errors, and what they teach us: One better than Tommy John : Four statistical errors, some of which are totally trivial, but all of which matter a great deal ; Weed control for p-values : A single scientific question should be addressed by a single statistical test ; How to shoot a TV episode : Statistical analyses that don't provide meaningful numbers ; Sam, 93 years old, 700 pound Florida super-granddad : Two common errors in regression ; Regression to the Mike : A statistical explanation of why an eligible friend of mine is still single ; OJ Simpson, Sally Clark, George and me : About conditional probability ; Boy meets girl, girl rejects boy, boy starts multiple testing ; Some things that have never happened to me : why you shouldn't compare p-values ; How to win the marathon : Avoiding errors when measuring things that happen over time ; The difference between bad statistics and a bacon sandwich : Are there "rules" in statistics? ; Look at your garbage bin : It may be the only thing you need to know about statistics ; Numbers that mean something : Linking math and science ; Statistics is about people, even if you can't see the tears