STATISTICS: STATISTICS STATISTICAL LITERACY AND ILLITERACY:
[Net-Gold] Statistical Illiteracy


I must confess with all the adjectives describing literacy and illiteracy, I
have not run into statistics within my memory as one of them and this is
clearly an important area for concern about illiteracy and an important
literacy frontier, so here to supplement this most important and valuable post
from Richard Hake, all of whose posts are important and valuable, is a bit of
digging into the resources one can find regarding statistical literacy and
illiteracy.


Additional content on the web from Richard Hake

<http://www.google.com/search?q=%22richard+hake%22&hl=en&filter=0>


Statistical Illiteracy on the web

Results 1 - 10 of about 1,220 for "statistical illiteracy".

<http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%
22statistical+illiteracy%22&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/6ejm5p>


Statistical Literacy on the Web

Results 1 - 10 of about 24,000 for "statistical literacy".


<http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=
0&ct=result&cd=1&q=%22statistical+literacy%22&spell=1>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/5kchhk>



Statistical Illiteracy has made the News

Results 1 - 10 of about 14 for "statistical illiteracy".

<http://news.google.com/archivesearch?hl=en&um=1&ie=
UTF-8&tab=wn&q=%22statistical+illiteracy%22>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/65zgom>


As has Statistical Literacy


Results 1 - 10 of about 76 for "statistical literacy".


<http://news.google.com/archivesearch?hl=
en&um=1&q=%22statistical+literacy%22&spell=1>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/563jyp>


Hence Statistical Illiteracy is developing an image of its own


<http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&um=1&ie=
UTF-8&q=%22statistical%20illiteracy%22&sa=N&tab=ni>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/6p5ejm>



As is Statistical Literacy

<http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&sa=X&oi=
spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=%22statistical+literacy%22&spell=1>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/5ksg3j>


Statistical Illiteracy is a matter of concern for scholars.


Scholar All articles - Recent articles Results 1 - 10 of about 41 for
"statistical illiteracy".


<http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&um=1&ie=
UTF-8&q=%22statistical%20illiteracy%22&sa=N&tab=is>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/5trrbo>



And they will counter with Statistical Literacy as the solution:


Results 1 - 10 of about 1,340 for "statistical literacy".


<http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=
en&q=%22statistical+literacy%22&spell=1>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/6jh6nk>



Perhaps Statistical Illiteracy will cause enough concern to cause folks to
write about it in books.


Books 1 - 10 of 89 on "statistical illiteracy".

<http://books.google.com/books?tab=sp&sa=N&hl=
en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=%22statistical+illiteracy%22&sa=N>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/66qpaz>



The book on Statistical Literacy


Books 1 - 10 of 555 on "statistical literacy".

<http://books.google.com/books?um=1&q=
%22statistical+literacy%22&spell=1&oi=spell>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/6m3u5p>


Before one knows what happened the government will get involved in statistical
illiteracy and statistical literacy.



Statistical illiteracy

<http://www.google.com/unclesam?q=%
22statistical+illiteracy%22&hl=en&filter=0>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/5cvutg>


Statistical Literacy


http://www.google.com/unclesam?q=
%22statistical+literacy%22&hl=en&filter=0


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/6jfrj5>


All of which could get folks talking about illiteracy and literacy in the realm
of statistical knowledge on blogs and in groups.


Blogs Statistical Illiteracy

<http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&um=1&ie=
UTF-8&q=%22statistical%20illiteracy%22&sa=N&tab=pb>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/5fjo2q>



Blogs Statistical Literacy


Results 1 - 10 of about 288 for "statistical literacy".


<http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&um=
1&ie=UTF-8&q=%22statistical+literacy%22&spell=1&oi=spell&sa=X>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/5hos3e>



Groups Statistical Illiteracy


Results 1 - 10 of about 131 for "statistical illiteracy".


<http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&um=1&ie=
UTF-8&q=%22statistical%20illiteracy%22&sa=N&tab=bg>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/6mqexn>



Groups Statistical Literacy

Results 1 - 10 of about 131 for "statistical literacy".

<http://groups.google.com/groups/search?hl=en&ie=
UTF-8&q=%22statistical+literacy%22&spell=1>


A shorter URL for the above link:



<http://tinyurl.com/5afjcu>



WEBBIB0809


There will be a link to this post in all of my subject guides on the Temple
University LibGuides subject guide server in the

INTERNET: SEARCH: More Meet the Googles

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<http://www.google.com/search?q=%22meet+the+googles%
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A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/67wktj>


Information Literacy on Net-Gold


<http://www.google.com/search?q=%22information+literacy%
22+and+%22net-gold%22+and+%22temple.edu%22&hl=en&filter=0>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/5dy57s>


A shorter URL for the above link:


<http://tinyurl.com/67wktj>



Many heart felt thanks to Richard Hake for sharing this topic with the Net-Gold
list and indeed for all the valuable posts he has been sharing, they are deeply
appreciated and are very useful to those who read them.


For your convenience the entire post from Richard Hake regarding Statistical
Illiteracy appears below my signature lines.




Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
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---------------------------------------------


Date: Sat, 22 Nov 2008 13:17:29 -0800
From: Richard Hake <rrhake@...>
Reply-To: Net-Gold@yahoogroups.com
To: POD@...
Cc: STLHE-L@..., Net-Gold@yahoogroups.com, WBTOLL-L@...
Subject: [Net-Gold] Statistical Illiteracy

If you reply to this long (7 kB) post please don't hit the reply
button unless you prune copy of this post that may appear in your
reply down to a few relevant lines, otherwise the entire already
archived post may be needlessly resent to subscribers.



*******************************************

ABSTRACT: I copy most of the summary of the article "Helping Doctors
and Patients Make Sense of Health Statistics" by Gigerenzer et al.,
who claim that statistical illiteracy is common to patients,
journalists, and physicians; and emphasize the "importance of
teaching statistical thinking and transparent representations in
primary and secondary education as well as in medical school [since]
statistical literacy is a necessary precondition for an educated
citizenship in a technological democracy."


*******************************************


Some subscribers may be interested in a recent article by Gigerenzer
et al. (2008) titled "Helping Doctors and Patients Make Sense of
Health Statistics."

The summary reads [bracketed by "GGGGGG. . . ."; my EMPHASIS]:


GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG


Many doctors, patients, journalists, and politicians alike do not
understand what health statistics mean or draw wrong conclusions
without noticing. Collective statistical illiteracy refers to the
widespread inability to understand the meaning of numbers. For
instance, many citizens are unaware that higher survival rates with
cancer screening do not imply longer life, or that the statement that
mammography screening reduces the risk of dying from breast cancer by
25% in fact means that 1 less woman out of 1,000 will die of the
disease. We provide evidence that STATISTICAL ILLITERACY (a) IS
COMMON TO PATIENTS, JOURNALISTS, AND PHYSICIANS; (b) is created by
nontransparent framing of information that is sometimes an
unintentional result of lack of understanding but can also be a
result of intentional efforts to manipulate or persuade people; and
(c) can have serious consequences for health. . . . . . . .We show
that information pamphlets, Web sites, leaflets distributed to
doctors by the pharmaceutical industry, and even medical journals
often report evidence in nontransparent forms that suggest big
benefits of featured interventions and small harms . . . .[see e.g.,
Smith (2005)]. . . . Without understanding the numbers involved, the
public is susceptible to political and commercial manipulation of
their anxieties and hopes, which undermines the goals of informed
consent and shared decision making.

What can be done? WE DISCUSS THE IMPORTANCE OF TEACHING STATISTICAL
THINKING AND TRANSPARENT REPRESENTATIONS IN PRIMARY AND SECONDARY
EDUCATION AS WELL AS IN MEDICAL SCHOOL. Yet this requires
familiarizing children early on with the concept of probability and
teaching statistical literacy as the art of solving real-world
problems rather than applying formulas to toy problems about coins
and dice. A major precondition for statistical literacy is
transparent risk communication. We recommend using frequency
statements instead of single-event probabilities, absolute risks
instead of relative risks, mortality rates instead of survival rates,
and natural frequencies instead of conditional probabilities.
Psychological research on transparent visual and numerical forms of
risk communication, as well as training of physicians in their use,
is called for.

Statistical literacy is a necessary precondition for an educated
citizenship in a technological democracy. Understanding risks and
asking critical questions can also shape the emotional climate in a
society so that hopes and anxieties are no longer as easily
manipulated from outside and citizens can develop a better-informed
and more relaxed attitude toward their health.


GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG

Gigerenzer <http://tinyurl.com/5q7wf> is Director of the Max Planck
Institute for Human Development <http://www.mpib-berlin.mpg.de/> in
Berlin. For Amazon.com's list of his books see
<http://tinyurl.com/6ngte3>.

I thank psychologist Chris Green (2008) for his TIPS [Teaching in
the Psychological Sciences
<http://www.mail-archive.com/tips%40acsun.frostburg.edu/>] post that
brought Gigerenzer et al. (2008) and Smith (2005) to my attention.

Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
24245 Hatteras Street, Woodland Hills, CA 91367
<rrhake@...>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~hake/>
<http://www.physics.indiana.edu/~sdi/>
<http://HakesEdStuff.blogspot.com/>



REFERENCES


Gigerenzer, G., W. Gaissmaier, E. Kurz-Milcke, L.M. Schwartz, & S.
2008. "Helping Doctors and Patients Make Sense of Health Statistics,"
Psychological Science In The Public Interest 8(2): 53-96; online at
<http://www.psychologicalscience.org/journals/pspi/pspi_8_2_article.pdf>
(1.8MB).


Green, C. 2008." Why do we have journals again?" TIPS post of 24 Oct
2008 08:19:19-0700; online at
<http://www.mail-archive.com/tips@acsun.frostburg.edu/msg26734.htm>.


Smith, R. 2005. "Medical journals are an extension of the marketing
arm of pharmaceutical companies," PLoS Medicine 2(5); online at
<http://www.aliveandwell.org/docs/richard_smith_medical_journals.pdf>
(388 kB).