Courses
GCNU1027 Speaking of Statistics (3 units)
- Medium of Instruction:
- English
This course begins with an introduction to different ways to interpret data in a proper statistical sense or misinterpret data with unjustifiable arguments. Misuse of statistical claims and data are not at all uncommon in Hong Kong. To become a smart consumer or citizen, we must not blindly believe in everything we are being told. Even though not everyone is trained to be a statistician or a scholar (which is not what we aim to do either), having some overall idea about how statistics works helps us be aware of the phony statistics around us and remain doubtful about the credibility of various claims. This course uses real-life examples to help students build a strong connection between the presented materials to the real world. We go easy on calculations; it is more important to understand “What are we doing?” and “Why are we doing this?” than the actual calculation (which is mostly done by computer software nowadays). By having the full picture in sight, students can see why a “statistically significant” discovery can be unimportant or even irrelevant—which is commonly used to trick people who “think” they understand statistics. We hope that this course will help students strengthen and apply their logical thinking skills effectively to their reading (i.e. by identifying the suspicious data), writing (i.e. by producing honest self-favourable data), and future learning (i.e. by extending the critical skill to other fields of study).
http://ge.hkbu.edu.hk/course/GCNU-1027/