Bloomsbury Home
- Home
- ACADEMIC
- Sociology
- Social Research Methods
- Critical Statistics
Critical Statistics
Seeing Beyond the Headlines
- Textbook
Critical Statistics
Seeing Beyond the Headlines
- Textbook
Inspection copy added to basket
Choose your preferred format. If you would prefer an ebook and it is not displayed below, please visit our inspection copies page.
Please note ebook inspection copies are fulfilled by VitalSource™.
Buy from Bloomsbury eTextBooks
You are now leaving the Bloomsbury Publishing website. Your eBook purchase will be with our partner https://www.vitalsource.com.
Your credit card statement will show this purchase originating from VitalSource Technologies. They will also provide any technical assistance you might require.
You must sign in to add this item to your wishlist. Please sign in or create an account
Description
Awarded the 2019 Most Promising New Textbook Award by the Textbook & Academic Authors Association.
This accessible and entertaining new textbook provides students with the knowledge and skills they need to understand the barrage of numbers encountered in their everyday lives and studies. Almost all the statistics in the news, on social media or in scientific reports are based on just a few core concepts, including measurement (ensuring we count the right thing), causation (determining whether one thing causes another) and sampling (using just a few people to understand a whole population). By explaining these concepts in plain language, without complex mathematics, this book prepares students to meet the statistical world head on and to begin their own quantitative research projects.
Ideal for students facing statistical research for the first time, or for anyone interested in understanding more about the numbers in the news, this textbook helps students to see beyond the headlines and behind the numbers.
Table of Contents
2. Where do numbers come from?
3. Samples, samples everywhere
4. Measure for measure
5. What does it mean to be average?
6. Fraction of a man
7. Cause and effect
8. Bad graphics
9. Context is everything
10. Do it yourself
Product details

Published | 26 Sep 2018 |
---|---|
Format | Ebook (PDF) |
Edition | 1st |
Extent | 250 |
ISBN | 9781137609816 |
Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
Illustrations | 2 bw illus |
Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
About the contributors
Reviews
-
A much needed Huff for our times.
John MacInnes, University of Edinburgh, UK
-
Never be lied to by statistics again: this book will teach you everything you need to know to combat dodgy data, spot shoddy stats, and to start constructing your own robust and reliable statistics.
Jude Towers, Lancaster University, UK
-
This book provides a straightforward and timely tutorial in how to make informed decisions regarding which statistics are to be trusted. This is precisely the type of book needed to empower the public to disentangle the valid from the invalid in the information age.
Jennie E. Brand, UCLA, USA
-
This book is a must for those taking introductory statistics courses. Rather than being a dry, technical textbook, it provides real-world every day examples of the use of statistics in everyday life.
John Jerrim, University College London, UK
-
This book provides a welcome complement to the wide range of 'how to do statistics' books that are available. It takes students in measured steps, providing useful exercises along the way.
Gillian Whitehouse, University of Queensland, Australia
-
Critical Statistics provides an accessible and entertaining tour through the ways that statistics can be used to mislead us. It's a thorough introduction for people who shudder at the thought of data, but people who see themselves as experts will learn something from this too.
Mark Taylor, University of Sheffield, UK
