Teaching Statistics to People Who (Think They) Hate Statistics: Tips for Overcoming Statistics Anxiety

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Teaching Statistics To People Who (Think They) Hate Statistics

#SAGETalks


Neil J. Salkind, Ph.D. Author and Professor Emeritus,

University of Kansas

Susannah GoldesSenior Associate Marketing Manager, SAGE PublishingModerator

#SAGETalks


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1. Reducing Statistics Anxiety2. Understanding Relationships and the Ice Cream Deal3. Understanding Hypotheses4. Significance (Yikes)

Today’s Talk



• No joke on the previous cartoon.• Help from study groups and if necessary, help

schedule even taking time from class. • My availability before and after class.• Online assistance as necessary.• Noting other students’ success.

Reducing Statistics Anxiety


Understanding Relationships and the Ice Cream Deal



• Discussing simple positive and negative correlations with scattergrams as illustrations.

• Understanding the nature of relationships and how variables share something in common.

• Interpreting simple correlations– Follow the rules– Eyeballing is usually best


A Simple Scattergram A Perfect Direct or Positive Correlation



A Strong but Not Perfect Direct Relationship

A Strong but Not Perfect Indirect Relationship




Teach students to trust their intuition.

Eyeballing is usually best.


Understanding Hypotheses: What They Are And How They Work

The definition of hypotheses


Understanding Hypotheses: What They Are And How They Work

What it looks like…

What it says…

Who it applies to?

What’s really important…

Null Hypothesis

Ho: μ1=μ2 Equality Population Indirectly tested

Research Hypothesis

H1: m1≠m2 Lack of equality

Samples Directly tested


Significance (Yikes)

All about the normal distribution and the idea of chance. If there’s a 100% chance of rain, it’s raining. And, there’s never a 0% chance of raining (or anything else for that matter).


Number of Heads Probability0 1/1,024 or .001

1 10/1,024 or .01

2 45/1,024 or .05

3 120/1,2024 or 12

4 210/1,024 or .21

5 245/1,024 or .24

6 210/1,024 or .21

7 120/1,024 or .12

8 45/1,024 or .05

9 10/1,024 or .01

10 1/1,024 or .001

• Flipping coins• Pascal’s triangle• The binomial

distribution



The concept of significance




The Central Limit Theorem 1



The Central Limit Theorem 2




• Significance versus Meaningfulness• The relationship between intelligence and shoe size.

Surely statistically significant but not meaningful.



The Eight Magic Steps1. Set the null2. Set alpha3. Select the appropriate test statistic4. Compute the obtained value5. Determine the critical value6. Compare obtained value to critical value7. If obtained value>critical value null cannot be accepted8. If critical value>obtained value null is best explanation




You can assign a probability to any event, but whether or not that event is meaningful is up to you, based on the rules you apply.



While we do our best to answer as many questions as we can, time constraints may not allow us to answer every question. Thank you for

understanding.

Send us your questions!

Send in your questions via the Question Box on your screen. →

Using Twitter? Use the hashtag

#SAGETalks

#SAGETalks


Authored By Neil J. SalkindAuthored by Neil J. Salkind


Webinar recording, slides, and follow-up Q&A will be emailed to you and available on connection.sagepub.com.

Thank you!

Neil J. SalkindStatisticsforPeople.com

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Teaching Statistics to People Who (Think They) Hate Statistics: Tips for Overcoming Statistics Anxiety