Statistics Done Wrong


(Joey) #1

Been enjoying Alex Reinhart’s "Statistics Done Wrong: The Woefully Complete Guide."

I’m posting this summer reading recommendation here in the Show Me The Science category, as it addresses the fallacies in a shockingly large proportion of published studies.

Enjoy! :nerd_face:


(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #2

Here’s the link:

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(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #3

One of my favourite lines from this book:

Authors who refused to share their data were more likely to have committed an error in their paper, and their statistical evidence tended to be weaker. . . . Correlation doesn’t imply causation, but it does waggle its eyebrows suggestively and gesture furtively while mouthing “look over there.”


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #4

And this other passage, with particular attention to item 3:

Your job

Your task can be expressed in four simple steps:

  1. Read a statistics textbook or take a good statistics course. Practice.
  2. Plan your data analyses carefully and deliberately, avoiding the misconceptions and errors you have learned.
  3. When you find common errors in the scientific literature – such as a simple misinterpretation of p values – hit the perpetrator over the head with your statistics textbook. It’s therapeutic.
  4. Press for change in scientific education and publishing. It’s our research. Let’s not screw it up.