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| Introduction | |
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| About This Book | |
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| Conventions Used in This Book | |
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| Foolish Assumptions | |
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| How This Book Is Organized | |
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| Icons Used in This Book | |
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| Where to Go from Here | |
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| Vital Statistics about Statistics | |
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| The Statistics of Everyday Life | |
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| Statistics and the Media Blitz: More Questions than Answers? | |
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| Using Statistics at Work | |
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| Statistics Gone Wrong | |
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| Taking Control: So Many Numbers, So Little Time | |
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| Detecting Errors, Exaggerations, and Just Plain Lies | |
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| Feeling the Impact of Misleading Statistics | |
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| Tools of the Trade | |
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| Statistics: More than Just Numbers | |
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| Grabbing Some Basic Statistical Jargon | |
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| Number-Crunching Basics | |
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| Getting the Picture: Charts and Graphs | |
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| Getting Graphic with Statistics | |
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| Getting a Piece of the Pie Chart | |
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| Raising the Bar on Bar Graphs | |
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| Putting Statistics on the Table | |
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| Keeping Pace with Time Charts | |
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| Picturing Data with a Histogram | |
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| Means, Medians, and More | |
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| Summing Up Data with Statistics | |
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| Summarizing Categorical Data | |
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| Summarizing Numerical Data | |
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| Determining the Odds | |
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| What Are the Chances? Understanding Probability | |
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| Taking a Chance with Probability | |
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| Gaining the Edge: Probability Basics | |
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| Interpreting Probability | |
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| Avoiding Probability Misconceptions | |
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| Connecting Probability with Statistics | |
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| Gambling to Win | |
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| Betting on the House: Why Casinos Stay in Business | |
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| Knowing a Little Probability Helps a Lotto | |
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| Wading through the Results | |
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| Measures of Relative Standing | |
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| Straightening Out the Bell Curve | |
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| Converting to a Standard Score | |
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| Sizing Up Results Using Percentiles | |
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| Caution: Sample Results Vary! | |
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| Expecting Sample Results to Vary | |
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| Measuring Variability in Sample Results | |
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| Examining Factors That Influence Variability in Sample Results | |
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| Leaving Room for a Margin of Error | |
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| Exploring the Importance of That Plus or Minus | |
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| Finding the Margin of Error: A General Formula | |
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| Determining the Impact of Sample Size | |
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| Limiting the Margin of Error | |
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| Guesstimating with Confidence | |
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| The Business of Estimation: Interpreting and Evaluating Confidence Intervals | |
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| Realizing That Not All Estimates Are Created Equal | |
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| Linking a Statistic to a Parameter | |
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| Making Your Best Guesstimate | |
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| Interpreting Results with Confidence | |
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| Spotting Misleading Confidence Intervals | |
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| Calculating Accurate Confidence Intervals | |
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| Calculating a Confidence Interval | |
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| Choosing a Confidence Level | |
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| Zooming In on Width | |
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| Factoring In the Sample Size | |
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| Counting On Population Variability | |
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| Commonly Used Confidence Intervals: Formulas and Examples | |
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| Calculating the Confidence Interval for the Population Mean | |
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| Determining the Confidence Interval for the Population Proportion | |
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| Developing a Confidence Interval for the Difference of Two Means | |
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| Coming Up with the Confidence Interval for the Difference of Two Proportions | |
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| Putting a Claim to the (Hypothesis) Test | |
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| Claims, Tests, and Conclusions | |
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| Responding to Claims: Some Do's and Don'ts | |
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| Doing a Hypothesis Test | |
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| Weighing the Evidence and Making Decisions: P-Values | |
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| Knowing That You Could Be Wrong: Errors in Testing | |
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| Walking through a Hypothesis Test: The Big Picture | |
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| Commonly Used Hypothesis Tests: Formulas and Examples | |
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| Testing One Population Mean | |
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| Testing One Population Proportion | |
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| Comparing Two (Separate) Population Averages | |
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| Testing for an Average Difference (Paired Data) | |
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| Comparing Two Population Proportions | |
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| Statistical Studies: The Inside Scoop | |
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| Polls, Polls, and More Polls | |
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| Recognizing the Impact of Polls | |
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| Behind the Scenes: The Ins and Outs of Surveys | |
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| Experiments: Medical Breakthroughs or Misleading Results? | |
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| Determining What Sets Experiments Apart | |
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| Designing a Good Experiment | |
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| Making Informed Decisions about Experiments | |
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| Looking for Links: Correlations and Associations | |
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| Picturing the Relationship: Plots and Charts | |
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| Quantifying the Relationship: Correlations and Other Measures | |
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| Explaining the Relationship: Association and Correlation versus Causation | |
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| Making Predictions: Regression and Other Methods | |
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| Statistics and Toothpaste: Quality Control | |
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| Full-Filling Expectations | |
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| Squeezing Quality out of a Toothpaste Tube | |
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| The Part of Tens | |
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| Ten Criteria for a Good Survey | |
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| The Target Population Is Well Defined | |
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| The Sample Matches the Target Population | |
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| The Sample Is Randomly Selected | |
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| The Sample Size Is Large Enough | |
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| Good Follow-Up Minimizes Non-Response | |
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| The Type of Survey Used Is Appropriate | |
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| The Questions Are Well Worded | |
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| The Survey Is Properly Timed | |
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| The Survey Personnel Are Well Trained | |
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| The Survey Answers the Original Question | |
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| Ten Common Statistical Mistakes | |
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| Misleading Graphs | |
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| Biased Data | |
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| No Margin of Error | |
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| Non-Random Samples | |
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| Missing Sample Sizes | |
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| Misinterpreted Correlations | |
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| Confounding Variables | |
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| Botched Numbers | |
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| Selectively Reporting Results | |
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| The Almighty Anecdote | |
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| Sources | |
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| Index | |