Stage 2 of 10 · 8 lessons · ~6 weeks
Statistics and probability you actually use
Describe data honestly, understand distributions and uncertainty, and learn which test answers which question, so you can tell a real pattern from noise.
Start: Describing data: centre and spreadLessons· one lesson for each topic, in this order
- 1Describing data: centre and spreadLesson
- 2Distributions you will meetLesson
- 3Conditional probability and base ratesLesson
- 4Samples, the CLT and standard errorLesson
- 5Confidence intervalsLesson
- 6Hypothesis tests and p-valuesLesson
- 7Choosing the right testLesson
- 8Correlation, confounders and causationLesson
Do this
- Describe three columns of a real dataset with the right centre and spread for their shape.
- Plot a histogram of each and name the distribution it resembles.
- Work one base-rate problem with counts for 10,000 cases.
- Simulate 1,000 samples in code and plot the sample means.
- Compute a confidence interval for a mean and for a proportion.
- Pick and run the right test for two questions, and write what each result means.
Start with· follow one of these
- VideoFreeStatQuest with Josh Starmer
StatQuest · Beginner
Free: short, clear videos on each concept, from the normal distribution to p-values and power
- CourseFreeKhan Academy Statistics and Probability
Khan Academy · Beginner
Free: the probability, sampling distributions, confidence intervals and significance tests units, with practice
Practise
Also worth your time
Interactive visuals for probability, distributions, inference and regression: play with each one
Before moving on: A notebook on a real dataset that describes three columns honestly, computes two confidence intervals, runs two tests you chose from the question, and explains each result in two plain sentences a manager would understand.
This is the heart of your focus, so go further than the rest: work through OpenIntro Statistics with its R labs and simulate everything in R. Learn to write each result the way a methods section would: the test, the estimate, the interval and the assumptions you checked.