How to Think About Statistics

Students and professionals alike will relish a title which helps everyday individuals make sense of numbers and how they're interpreted and manipulated.
--Midwest Book Review

Modern life is inundated with statistical data-polls, surveys, economic indicators, advertising claims, and research findings. You can't avoid the numbers, but you can learn to determine what they really mean--even if you suffer from "math-phobia." This revised edition offers a common sense method for understanding the statistics that affect your decisions and performance in business, in school, as a consumer, and as a voter. Rather than focus on mathematics and computations, this concise volume familiarizes the reader with the underlying logic of statistical analysis and problem-solving. It reveals how empirical studies are conceived, gathered, reported, interpreted--and sometimes obscured and distorted. The revised edition introduces fundamental concepts, using familiar, concrete examples; develops clearly the implications of those concepts; moves logically from one concept to the next, building a solid framework for interpreting statistical data; Includes numerous sample applications drawn from the fields of education, political science, psychology, social work, and sociology. With dozens of refinements and a new organization, this revised edition should help the reader think critically about the statistical claims and arguments you encounter every day.

John L. Phillips (1923-2017) was a well-known expert in both statistics and psychology and a former professor of psychology at Boise State University. Phillips was the author of The Origins of Intellect, How to Think About Statistics, and Piaget's Theory, a Primer.