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Common Errors in Statistics (and How to Avoid Them), 4th Edition
book

Common Errors in Statistics (and How to Avoid Them), 4th Edition

by Phillip I. Good, James W. Hardin
July 2012
Intermediate to advanced
352 pages
9h 30m
English
Wiley
Content preview from Common Errors in Statistics (and How to Avoid Them), 4th Edition

DO NOT LET YOUR SOFTWARE DO YOUR THINKING FOR YOU

Most statistical software comes with built-in defaults, for example, a two-sided test at the 5% significance level. Even if altered, subsequent uses may default back to the previously used specifications. But what if these settings are not appropriate for your particular application? We know of one statistician who advised his company to take twice as many samples as necessary (at twice the investment in money and time) simply because he had allowed the software to make the settings. Always verify that the current default settings of your statistical software are appropriate before undertaking an analysis or a sample-size determination.

It is up to you and not your software to verify that all the necessary assumptions are satisfied. Just because your software yields a p-value does not mean that you performed the appropriate analysis.

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