Statistics = procedures & principles for gathering data & analyzing info to help make decisions

1. Data can be used to make a judgement about a situation

2. Provides a process of discovery of knowledge

3. Statistical Principles

3.1. A summary is interesting & easy to digest

3.2. Include base rate or baseline risk when discussing a change in the rate or risk

3.3. A representative sample of only 100's or 1,000's can give accurate info about a larger population

3.4. An unrepresentative sample, even if large will not give accurate info about the population

3.5. Observational studies can't provide cause & effect conclusions

3.6. Randomized experiments can provide cause & effect conclusions

3.7. A statistically significant finding may not be important - check the magnitute of the difference

4. Steps

4.1. 1. Ask the right questions

4.2. 2. Collect useful data

4.2.1. How much data?

4.3. 3. Summarize & analyze data

4.3.1. Goal = to answer question

4.4. 4. Make decisions & generalizations based on observed data

4.5. 5. Turn data and subsequent decisions into new knowledge