Standard Deviations : Flawed Assumptions, Tortured Data, and Other Ways to Lie with Statistics
By Gary SmithAs Nobel Prize winning economist Ronald Coase once cynically observed, If you torture data long enough, it will confess. Lying with statistics is a time-honored con. InStandard Deviations, economics professor Gary Smith walks us through the various tricks and traps that people use to back up their own crackpot theories. Sometimes, the unscrupulous deliberately try to mislead us. Other times, the well-intentioned are blissfully unaware of the mischief they are committing. Today, data is so plentiful that researchers spend precious little time distinguishing between good, meaningful indicators and total rubbish. Not only do others use data to fool us, we fool ourselves. With the breakout success of Nate Silver sThe Signal and the Noise, the once humdrum subject of statistics has never been hotter. Drawing on breakthrough research in behavioral economics by luminaries like Daniel Kahneman and Dan Ariely and taking to task some of the conclusions of Freakonomics author Steven D. Levitt, Standard Deviations demystifies the science behind statistics and makes it easy to spot the fraud all around. "
show more
Book details
- Hardcover
- 326 pages
- English
- 146830920X
- 9781468309201
About Gary Smith
gary smith was Read More about Gary Smith
More Books By Gary Smith
People who bought this also bought
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex: But Were Afraid to Ask
Used Book
Secret Church : Your Invitation To The Coming Underground Church
Used Book
One Good Word Makes all the Difference : Sometimes a small dose of medicine - one good word - is all that's needed
Used Book
Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son's First Year
Used Book
The Brightening Glance: Imagination and Childhood book by Ellen Handler Spitz
Used Book
Taking an Honest and Spiritual Inventory Participant's Guide 2
Used Book
A Christian Manifesto book by Francis A. Schaeffer
Used Book
Retiring Well on a Poor Man's Budget : 1,001 Ways to Stretch Your Income and Enjoy Your Golden Years
Used Book
You Can Be Happy No Matter What: Five Principles for Keeping Life in Perspective
Used Book