Sage Publications How to Make Sense of Statistics

In a new textbook designed for students new to statistics and social data, Stephen Gorard focuses on non-inferential statistics as a basis to ensure students have basic statistical literacy. Understanding why we have to learn statistics and seeing the links between the numbers and real life is a crucial starting point. Using engaging, friendly, approachable language this book will demystify numbers from the outset, explaining exactly how they can be used as tools to understand the relationships between variables. This text assumes no previous mathematical or statistical knowledge, taking the reader through each basic technique with step-by-step advice, worked examples, and exercises. Using non-inferential techniques, students learn the foundations that underpin all statistical analysis and will learn from the ground up how to produce theoretically and empirically informed statistical results. Review This book takes beginner students hand-in-hand through a journey in the world of statistics without dumbing down the concepts, just making them very accessible. It teaches the basics (and beyond) by stimulating critical thinking. -- Luana Russo About the Author Stephen Gorard is Professor of Education and Public Policy, and Director of the Evidence Centre for Education, at Durham University (https://www.dur.ac.uk/). He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences, member of the ESRC Commissioning Panel for the Research Methods Programme, the British Academy grants panel, and Lead Editor for BERA’s Review of Education. He is a member of the Cabinet Office Trials Advice Panel as part of the Prime Minister’s Implementation Unit. His work concerns the robust evaluation of education as a lifelong process, focused on issues of equity, especially regarding school intakes. He is author of around 30 books and over 1,000 other publications. He is currently funded by Nesta to evaluate their EdTech Testbed, and by the British Academy to look at the impact of schooling in India and Pakistan.