starts Class starts April 15, 2015

Course Description

Statistics can be confusing and opaque. Symbols, Greek letters, very large and very small numbers, and how to interpret all of this can leave you feeling cold and disengaged, even fearful and resentful. But in the modern information age, having a healthy relationship with statistics can make life a lot easier. We are constantly faced with an onslaught of data and claims about it, from news headlines to Facebook and blog posts, casual and professional conversations, reports at our workplace, advertising, and claims from politicians and public officials. How can we process that information, make sense of it, evaluate truthful claims, and put ourselves in a position to act on the information? One of the most important ways is by befriending statistics and using statistical ways of thinking.

This course will help you develop a functional, satisfying and useful life-long relationship with statistics. To achieve that goal, we will take a non-technical approach. You will learn how statistics work and why they are so helpful in evaluating the world of information around us. You’ll learn about the logic of statistical thinking and the concepts (rather than the mathematical details and probability theory) that guide statistical inferences and conclusions.

You do not need to be a math whiz to take this course. If you can add, subtract, multiply, and divide (or just be able to use a calculator to do that!), you will be more than able to handle what will happen as this relationship develops.