Overview
Lying with Statistics was a Vanderbilt Summer Academy (VSA) course designed for gifted adolescent students. It was taught during Summer Session II (June 19-30, 2017).
Is it possible to mislead when using statistics? This class will help you identify potential misrepresentation along with the inner-workings of statistical truths. You will learn to run statistical analyses the right way (using powerful, open source software called R) to recognize when data are being misused. Through regular practice, discussion, and your own culminating project, you will become adept at recognizing when graphs are being manipulated, biases are being confirmed, and causes are implied when, really, only correlations exist. Not only will you gain valuable professional skills with broad applications, but you will also be less susceptible to other people’s numerical trickery.
Materials
Poster Template
Poster Example 1, which I presented at an academic conference in 2014.
Poster Example 2, which I presented at a different academic conference in 2017.
Schedule
Day 1 (June 19)
Topics: Scientific Method, Research Questions, Cognitive Biases, and Research Design.
Day 2 (June 20)
Topics: Experiments, Design, Sampling, and Measurement
Study Hall: Scale Development
Day 3 (June 21)
Topics: Measurement, Summary Statistics
Study Hall: Read selections from ``How to Lie with Statistics’’
Day 4 (June 22)
Topics: R syntax and Distributions
Study Hall: Work on Project
Day 5 (June 23)
Topics: Hypothesis Testing and Significance and Correlation
Study Hall: Read selections from ``How to Lie with Statistics’’
Day 6 (June 24)
Topics: Exploratory Data and Tukey
Day 7 (June 26)
Topics: Regression and Causation
Study Hall: Read selections from ``How to Lie with Statistics’’
Day 8 (June 27)
Topics: Replication, Reproduction, and Scientific Misconduct
Study Hall: Read selections from ``How to Lie with Statistics’’
Day 9 (June 28)
Topics: Projects
Day 10 (June 29)
Topics: Review, Concept Map, and Presentations
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