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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

A SLIPPERY SLOPE

John, Loewenstein, and Prelec [2012] surveyed over 2000 psychologists, a sizeable percentage of whom admitted to at least some of the following fraudulent practices:

1. Failing to report all of a study’s dependent measures
2. Deciding whether or not to collect more data after first looking to see whether the interim results were significant
3. Failing to report all of a study’s conditions
4. Stopping data collection earlier than planned because the desired result appeared to be confirmed with interim data
5. Misrepresenting a p-value (e.g., reporting that a p value of .054 as less than .05)
6. Selectively reporting studies that “worked” while failing to report studies that did not.
7. Deciding whether to exclude data after looking at the impact of doing so on the results.
8. Reporting an unexpected finding as having been predicted from the start.
9. Claiming that results are unaffected by demographic variables (e.g., gender), without proof (or with knowledge to the contrary)

Are you guilty of any of these transgressions?

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