Unlock today's statistical controversies and irreproducible results by viewing statistics as probing and controlling errors.

A fascinating chronicle of the lives and achievements of the menand women who helped shapethe science of statistics This handsomely illustrated volume will make enthralling readingfor scientists, mathematicians, and science history buffs alike.Spanning nearly four centuries, it chronicles the lives andachievements of more than 110 of the most prominent names intheoretical and applied statistics and probability. From Bernoullito Markov, Poisson to Wiener, you will find intimate profiles ofwomen and men whose work led to significant advances in the areasof statistical inference and theory, probability theory, governmentand economic statistics, medical and agricultural statistics, andscience and engineering. To help readers arrive at a fullerappreciation of the contributions these pioneers made, the authorsvividly re-create the times in which they lived while exploring themajor intellectual currents that shaped their thinking andpropelled their discoveries. Lavishly illustrated with more than 40 authentic photographs andwoodcuts * Includes a comprehensive timetable of statistics from theseventeenth century to the present * Features edited chapters written by 75 experts from around theglobe * Designed for easy reference, features a unique numbering schemethat matches the subject profiled with his or her particular fieldof interest

Few students sitting in their introductory statistics class learn that they are being taught the product of a misguided effort to combine two methods into one. Few students learn that some think the method they are being taught should be banned. Wise Use of Null Hypothesis Tests: A Practitioner’s Handbook follows one of the two methods that were combined: the approach championed by Ronald Fisher. Fisher’s method is simple, intuitive, and immune to criticism. Wise Use of Null Hypothesis Tests is also a user-friendly handbook meant for practitioners. Rather than overwhelming the reader with endless mathematical operations that are rarely performed by hand, the author of Wise Use of Null Hypothesis Tests emphasizes concepts and reasoning. In Wise Use of Null Hypothesis Tests, the author explains what is accomplished by testing null hypotheses—and what is not. The author explains the misconceptions that concern null hypothesis testing. He explains why confidence intervals show the results of null hypothesis tests, performed backwards. Most importantly, the author explains the Big Secret. Many—some say all—null hypotheses must be false. But authorities tell us we should test false null hypotheses anyway to determine the direction of a difference that we know must be there (a topic unrelated to so-called one-tailed tests). In Wise Use of Null Hypothesis Tests, the author explains how to control how often we get the direction wrong (it is not half of alpha) and commit a Type III (or Type S) error. Offers a user-friendly book, meant for the practitioner, not a comprehensive statistics book Based on the primary literature, not other books Emphasizes the importance of testing null hypotheses to decide upon direction, a topic unrelated to so-called one-tailed tests Covers all the concepts behind null hypothesis testing as it is conventionally understood, while emphasizing a superior method Covers everything the author spent 32 years explaining to others: the debate over correcting for multiple comparisons, the need for factorial analysis, the advantages and dangers of repeated measures, and more Explains that, if we test for direction, we are practicing an unappreciated and unnamed method of inference