Standard deviations : flawed assumptions, tortured data and other ways to lie with statistics
Smith, Gary2014
Book
Total copies: 1
Did you know that having a messy room will make you racist? Or that human beings possess the ability to postpone death until after important ceremonial occasions? Both of these 'facts' have been argued with a straight face by researchers and backed up with reams of data and convincing statistics. As Nobel Prize-winning economist Ronald Coase once cynically observed: 'If you torture data long enough, it will confess.' In 'Standard Deviations', economics professor Gary Smith walks us through the various tricks and traps that people use to back up their own crackpot theories.
Main title:
Author:
Smith, Gary, author
Imprint:
London : Duckworth, 2014.
Collation:
304 pages : illustrations
ISBN:
9780715649145 (pbk)
Dewey class:
519.5'34519.534
LC class:
QA276
Language:
English
BRN:
265070