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Everyone in these industries takes statistics in college and maybe grad school tool. The problem is (1) that statistics is hard math and these people aren't mat

Everyone in these industries takes statistics in college and maybe grad school tool. The problem is (1) that statistics is hard math and these people aren't math majors (2) if you do statistics correctly you can never say anything bold with confidence, which kills your career in any field except statistics itself

tuatoru 6y ago
Stats courses for non-statisticians should focus on teaching people how to tell when they need to call in an expert. (Which is most of the time, of course. And that is not unique to statistics.) And academic journals in medicine etc. need to require that research involving the use of statistics has been reviewed and okayed by specialist statisticians, and prioritise publishing null results. The last would save future researchers a lot of time.
NicolasGorden 6y ago
I should have been more careful in wording my original comment. I know there are statistics classes given in most professions. But those classes generally are graded on a bell curve and many people I've known have passed such classes without really 'getting much'. Also, my comment should have specified statistics as part of critical thinking and analysis of complex phenomena.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
mhh__ 6y ago
In the sense that there are courses like Physics for future presidents, it must be possible to at least attune peoples bullshit receptors to some degree - even if that is without going into the mathematics. We now live in a time when media algorithmically shows you what you want to see, and politicians have effectively worked out that truth is almost totally unnecessary. Society will adapt, but it could end in disaster.
- godelski 6y ago
  For example, one thing that most people don't get is that every measurement has an assumption. If you don't know the assumption you may make bad conclusions. Few people even ask this question when making measurements.
analog31 6y ago
A problem with training requirements seems analogous to Goodheart's Law. If you make something a requirement for graduating, then you have to make it easy enough for everybody to pass, in which case it turns into fluff. But this isn't even statistics. We learned to read log plots in high school chemistry class.

tuatoru 6y ago

Stats courses for non-statisticians should focus on teaching people how to tell when they need to call in an expert. (Which is most of the time, of course. And that is not unique to statistics.) And academic journals in medicine etc. need to require that research involving the use of statistics has been reviewed and okayed by specialist statisticians, and prioritise publishing null results. The last would save future researchers a lot of time.

NicolasGorden 6y ago

I should have been more careful in wording my original comment. I know there are statistics classes given in most professions. But those classes generally are graded on a bell curve and many people I've known have passed such classes without really 'getting much'. Also, my comment should have specified statistics as part of critical thinking and analysis of complex phenomena.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

mhh__ 6y ago

In the sense that there are courses like Physics for future presidents, it must be possible to at least attune peoples bullshit receptors to some degree - even if that is without going into the mathematics. We now live in a time when media algorithmically shows you what you want to see, and politicians have effectively worked out that truth is almost totally unnecessary. Society will adapt, but it could end in disaster.

godelski 6y ago
For example, one thing that most people don't get is that every measurement has an assumption. If you don't know the assumption you may make bad conclusions. Few people even ask this question when making measurements.

analog31 6y ago

A problem with training requirements seems analogous to Goodheart's Law. If you make something a requirement for graduating, then you have to make it easy enough for everybody to pass, in which case it turns into fluff. But this isn't even statistics. We learned to read log plots in high school chemistry class.