This course aims to help learners make sense of statistics in the news by covering topics such as relative risk, absolute risk difference, communicating risks correctly, and understanding correlated errors. The course teaches skills in interpreting statistics, analyzing data, and identifying confounding factors. The teaching method includes lessons from real news stories, simulations, and case studies. This course is intended for individuals interested in improving their statistical literacy and critical thinking skills when consuming news and research findings.
Data Overload - Making Sense of Statistics in the News, Kristin Sainani
Stanford University via YouTube
Overview
Syllabus
Introduction.
Three statistics lessons from the news.
Statements made.
The numbers: relative risk (risk ratio).
The numbers: absolute risk difference.
Relative vs. Absolute Risk.
Communicating relative risks correctly.
Relative risks don't tell the whole story.
Niskanen Center Methodology.
Implement in a simulation.
But this approach has a problem!.
Correlated errors in the 2016 election.
Redo the simulation focused on polling errors, uncorrelated.
Then make the polling errors correlated.
Reaching for biological explanations....
Factors that affect vitamin D levels.
Factors that affect vo, max.
The problem of unmeasured and residual confounding.
Further resources.
Medical Statistics Certificate Program.
Taught by
Stanford Online
