Four things to look for. Why People Hate Polls It’s probably true that everybody has taken a survey at some point or other. What’s also probably true is that most people think polling is easy. And why not? Google has a site for creating polls. Social media sites and blogging sites provide capabilities for conducting […]
Nine patterns of three types of relationships that aren’t spurious. When analysts see a large correlation coefficient, they begin speculating about possible reasons. They’ll naturally gravitate toward their initial hypothesis (or preconceived notion) which set them to investigate the data relationship in the first place. Because hypotheses are commonly about causation, they often begin with this least […]
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. George Santayana History isn’t always clear-cut. It’s written by anyone with the will to write it down and the forum to distribute it. It’s valuable to understand different perspectives and the contexts that created them. The evolution of the term Data Science is a […]
Many of us have had our personal information stolen from the Internet, some more than once. Even governments can’t prevent the thefts. Professionals who work with data come under a lot of scrutiny because of PII.
An anecdote is a kitten gently licking your face with a warm, wet,
raspy tongue. Big data is a three-inch, high-pressure, firehose held an arm’s length away. They have to be treated quite differently.
Probability is the core of statistics. You hear the phrase “what’s the probability of …” all the time in statistics. You also hear that phrase in everyday life, too. What’s the probability of rain tomorrow? What’s the probability of winning the lottery? You also hear the phrase “what are the odds …? What are the […]
Whether you’re in high school, college, or a continuing education program, you may have the opportunity, or be required, to take an introductory course in statistics, call it Stats 101. It’s certainly a requirement for degrees in the sciences and engineering, economics, the social sciences, education, criminology, and even some degrees in history, culinary science, […]
Language isn’t very precise in dealing with uncertainty. Probably is more certain than possibly, but who knows where dollars-to-doughnuts falls on the spectrum. Statistics needs to deal with uncertainty more quantitatively. That’s where probability comes in. For the most part, probability is a simple concept with fairly straightforward formulas. The applications, however, can be mind […]
Sometimes you have to do things when you have no idea where to start. It can be a stressful experience. If you’ve ever had to analyze a data set, you know the anxiety. Deciding how and where to start exploring a new data set can be perplexing. Typically. the first thing to consider is the […]
When you take your first statistics class, your professor will be a kind person who cares about your mental well-being. OK, maybe not, but what the professor won’t do is give you real-world data sets. The data may represent things you find in the real world but the data set will be free of errors. […]
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