Stat-Spotting: A Field Guide to Identifying Dubious Data

by Joel Best

Overview

Does a young person commit suicide every thirteen minutes in the United States? Are four million women really battered to death by their husbands or boyfriends each year? Is methamphetamine our number one drug problem today? Alarming statistics bombard our daily lives, appearing in the news, on the Web, seemingly everywhere. But all too often, even the most respected publications present numbers that are miscalculated, misinterpreted, hyped, or simply misleading.

This new edition contains revised benchmark statistics, updated resources, and a new section on the rhetorical uses of statistics, complete with new problems to be spotted and new examples illustrating those problems. Joel Best’s best seller exposes questionable uses of statistics and guides the reader toward becoming a more critical, savvy consumer of news, information, and data.

Entertaining, informative, and concise, Stat-Spotting takes a commonsense approach to understanding data and doesn't require advanced math or statistics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780520279988
Publisher:	University of California Press
Publication date:	09/14/2013
Edition description:	First Edition, Updated and Expanded
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Joel Best is Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware. Among his many books are Flavor of the Month: Why Smart People Fall for Fads, More Damned Lies and Statistics: How Numbers Confuse Public Issues, and Damned Lies and Statistics: Untangling Numbers from the Media, Politicians, and Activists, all from UC Press.

Table of Contents

PREFACE TO THE 2013 EDITION

PART 1. GETTING STARTED
A. SPOTTING QUESTIONABLE NUMBERS
B. BACKGROUND
B.1 Statistical Benchmarks
B.2 Severity and Frequency

PART 2. VARIETIES OF DUBIOUS DATA
C. BLUNDERS
C.1 The Slippery Decimal Point
C.2 Botched Translations
C.3 Misleading Graphs
C.4 Careless Calculations

D. SOURCES: WHO COUNTED–AND WHY?
D.1 Big Round Numbers
D.2 Hyperbole
D.3 Shocking Claims
D.4 Naming the Problem

E. DEFINITIONS: WHAT DID THEY COUNT?
E.1 Broad Definitions
E.2 Expanding Definitions
E.3 Changing Definitions
E.4 The Uncounted

F. MEASUREMENTS: HOW DID THEY COUNT?
F.1 Creating Measures
F.2 Odd Units of Analysis
F.3 Loaded Questions
F.4 Raising the Bar
F.5 Technical Measures

G. PACKAGING: WHAT ARE THEY TELLING US?
G.1 Impressive Formats
G.2 Misleading Samples
G.3 Convenient Time Frames
G.4 Peculiar Percentages
G.5 Selective Comparisons
G.6 Statistical Milestones
G.7 Averages
G.8 Epidemics
G.9 Correlations
G.10 Discoveries

H. RHETORIC: WHAT DO THEY WANT US TO THINK?
H.1 Using Short-Term Turnover to Measure Long-Term Problems
H.2 Sudden Turns for the Worse
H.3 Designating Myths
H.4 Rhetorical Flourishes

I. DEBATES: WHAT IF THEY DISAGREE?
I.1 Causality Debates
I.2 Equality Debates
I.3 Policy Debates

PART 3. STAT-SPOTTING ON YOUR OWN
J. SUMMARY: COMMON SIGNS OF DUBIOUS DATA
K. BETTER DATA: SOME CHARACTERISTICS
L. AFTERWORD: IF YOU HAD NO IDEA THINGS WERE THAT BAD, THEY PROBABLY AREN’T
M. SUGGESTIONS FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO CONTINUE STAT-SPOTTING

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
NOTES
INDEX

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"An ideal guide for anyone who reads a newspaper, watches television, or surfs the Web.
In short, everyone."—Numeracy

"Offers an eye-opening field guide to identifying problematic data and concludes by calling for better statistics."—Nacada Journal

Editorial Reviews

"An excellent book . . . Stat-Spotting is a useful, engaging, and easy to read text that if successfully integrated would be a great adition to statistics and/or research methods course."

Teaching Sociology

The author’s skillful analyses and explanations presented in clear and concise prose make Stat-Spotting an ideal guide for anyone who reads a newspaper, watches television, or surfs the Web. In short, everyone.

Numeracy

Offers an eye-opening field guide to identifying problematic data and concludes by calling for better statistics.

Nacada Journal

"Best . . . has written several popular books in the past decade that help nonstatisticians make sense out of everyday statistics. While there is some overlap with his previous books, his latest is arguably the best in terms of concise practical advice for the lay reader."

American Statistician

"An easy read conveying practical tips for assessing so many of the figures that we see in the media or hear in public speeches. It should be appropriate for the lay person and for undergraduates to start them thinking about what statistics mean and how to interpret them. The real life examples in the book are easy to understand, and in most instances are appropriate for the ideas they are meant to illustrate."

Canadian Journal of Sociology / Cahiers canadiens de sociologie

“An ideal guide for anyone who reads a newspaper, watches television, or surfs the Web. In short, everyone.

Numeracy - Joe Swingle

"An ideal guide for anyone who reads a newspaper, watches television, or surfs the Web. In short, everyone."--Numeracy

"Offers an eye-opening field guide to identifying problematic data and concludes by calling for better statistics."--Nacada Journal

From the Publisher