Stat-Spotting: A Field Guide to Identifying Dubious Data

By Joel Best

University of California Press
Publication date: September 2008

ISBN: 9780520941977

Digital Book format: PDF (Adobe DRM)

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""If you ever scan the newspaper, watch the TV news, or surf the blogs, you should read this charming book. If you're a journalist, read it twice.""â¿¿James M. Jasper ""As we now swim in information, much of it bogus or biased, spotting dubious data is super important. In Stat-Spotting, Joel Best plays off the format of field guides to give readers good, common sense ways not only to sense bad data but to understand what's wrong. Broken up into short independent sections much like field guides to various flora or fauna, the book is easy and enjoyable to read. Easy, enjoyable, and valuable. I will recommend it to my students, and to others, as a resource for critical consumers of numbers.""â¿¿Bernard Madison, University of Arkansas ""The purpose of Stat-Spotting is to help readers become more critical consumers of statistical claims. It is an important work addressing a significant problem in contemporary society: thoughtlessness about numerical claims. Best's work here provides a direct, accessible guide to critical readings of statistics.""â¿¿Neil Lutsky, Carleton College