Some more help (preaching?) for students of statistics

Last week I outlined the first five principles to help people to learn and study statistics.
They focussed on how you need to practise in order to be good at statistics and you should not wait until you understand it completely before you start applying. I sometimes call this suspending disbelief. Next I talked about the importance of context in a statistical investigation, which is one of the ways that statistics is different from pure mathematics. And finally I stressed the importance of technology as a tool, not only for doing the analysis, but for exploring ideas and gaining understanding.
Here are the next five principles (plus 2):

6. Terminology is important and at times inconsistent

There are several issues with regard to statistical terminology, and I have written a post with ideas for teachers on how to teach terminology.
One issue with terminology is that some words that are used in the study of statistics have meanings in everyday life that are not the same. A clear example of this is the word, “significant”. In regular usage this can mean important or relevant, yet in statistics, it means that there is evidence that an effect that shows up in the sample also exists in the population.
Another issue is that statistics is a relatively young science and there are inconsistencies in terminology. We just have to live with that. Depending on the discipline in which the statistical analysis is applied or studied, different terms can mean the same thing, or very close to it.
A third language problem is that mixed in with the ambiguity of results, and judgment calls, there are some things that are definitely wrong. Teachers and examiners can be extremely picky. In this case I would suggest memorising the correct or accepted terminology for confidence intervals and hypothesis tests. For example I am very fussy about the explanation for the R-squared value in regression. Too often I hear that it says how much of the dependent variable is explained by the independent variable. There needs to be the word “variation” inserted in there to make it acceptable. I encourage my students to memorise a format for writing up such things. This does not substitute for understanding, but the language required is precise, so having a specific way to write it is fine.
This problem with terminology can be quite frustrating, but I think it helps to have it out in the open. Think of it as learning a new language, which is often the case in new subject. Use glossaries, to make sure you really do know what a term means.

7. Discussion is important

This is linked with the issue of language and vocabulary. One way to really learn something is to talk about it with someone else and even to try and teach it to someone else. Most teachers realise that the reason they know something pretty well, is because they have had to teach it. If your class does not include group work, set up your own study group. Talk about the principles as well as the analysis and context, and try to use the language of statistics. Working on assignments together is usually fine, so long as you write them up individually, or according to the assessment requirements.

8. Written communication skills are important

Mathematics has often been a subject of choice for students who are not fluent in English. They can perform well because there is little writing involved in a traditional mathematics course. Statistics is a different matter, though, as all students should be writing reports. This can be difficult at the start, but as students learn to follow a structure, it can be made more palatable. A statistics report is not a work of creative writing, and it is okay to use the same sentence structure more than once. Neither is a statistics report a narrative of what you did to get to the results. Generous use of headings makes a statistical report easier to read and to write. A long report is not better than a short report, if all the relevant details are there.

9. Statistics has an ethical and moral aspect

This principle is interesting, as many teachers of statistics come from a mathematical background, and so have not had exposure to the ethical aspects of research themselves. That is no excuse for students to park their ethics at the door of the classroom. I will be pushing for more consideration of ethical aspects of research as part of the curriculum in New Zealand. Students should not be doing experiments on human subjects that involve delicate subjects such as abuse, or bullying. They should not involve alcohol or other harmful substances. They should be aware of the potential to do harm, and make sure that any participants have been given full information and given consent. This can be quite a hurdle, but is part of being an ethical human being. It also helps students to be more aware when giving or withholding consent in medical and other studies.

10. The study of statistics can change the way you view the world

Sometimes when we learn something at school, it stays at school and has no impact on our everyday lives. This should not be the case with the study of statistics. As we learn about uncertainty and variation we start to see this in the world around us. When we learn about sampling and non-sampling errors, we become more critical of opinion polls and other research reported in the media. As we discover the power of statistical analysis and experimentation, we start to see the importance of evidence-based practice in medicine, social interventions and the like.

11. Statistics is an inherently interesting and relevant subject.

And it can be so much fun. There is a real excitement in exploring data, and becoming a detective. If you aren’t having fun, you aren’t doing it right!

12. Resources from Statistics Learning Centre will help you learn.

Of course!