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Course Outline

What Statistics Can Offer to Decision Makers

  • Descriptive Statistics
    • Basic statistics - identifying which statistical measures (e.g., median, mean, percentiles, etc.) are most relevant for different data distributions.
    • Graphs - the significance of accurate visualization (e.g., how the construction of a graph influences decision-making).
    • Variable types - determining which variables are easier to manage.
    • Ceteris paribus - understanding that things are always in motion.
    • The third variable problem - identifying the true influencer.
  • Inferential Statistics
    • Probability value - understanding the meaning of the P-value.
    • Repeated experiments - interpreting results from repeated experimental trials.
    • Data collection - recognizing that while bias can be minimized, it cannot be entirely eliminated.
    • Understanding confidence levels.

Statistical Thinking

  • Decision-making with limited information
    • How to assess whether there is sufficient information.
    • Prioritizing goals based on probability and potential return (benefit/cost ratio, decision trees).
  • How errors accumulate
    • The butterfly effect.
    • Black swan events.
    • Understanding Schrödinger's cat and its analogy to Newton's Apple in a business context.
  • The Cassandra Problem - how to measure a forecast when the course of action has changed
    • Google Flu Trends - analyzing where it went wrong.
    • How decisions can render forecasts obsolete.
  • Forecasting - methods and practicality
    • ARIMA.
    • Why naive forecasts are often more responsive.
    • How far back should a forecast look?
    • Why more data can sometimes lead to worse forecasts.

Statistical Methods Useful for Decision Makers

  • Describing Bivariate Data
    • Univariate data versus bivariate data.
  • Probability
    • Why results vary each time we measure them.
  • Normal Distributions and normally distributed errors.
  • Estimation
    • Independent sources of information and degrees of freedom.
  • Logic of Hypothesis Testing
    • What can be proven, and why it often contradicts our desired outcome (Falsification).
    • Interpreting the results of Hypothesis Testing.
    • Testing Means.
  • Power
    • How to determine a cost-effective sample size.
    • False positives and false negatives, and why this is always a trade-off.

Requirements

Proficiency in mathematics is required. Additionally, prior exposure to basic statistics (such as working with professionals who conduct statistical analysis) is necessary.

 7 Hours

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