Why Statistics? And Learning Statistics Meaningfully

Year after year, there is an incredible fear of statistics from students across Universities. I would expect students to be excited for the subject, for it is such a relief from theory, and is very 'scoring.' On the contrary, students wish it were one subject they did not have to deal with.

Why do students fear statistics?

There are two answers to this. The first is that it's fear has been hyped beyond measure through the years, and students are not particularly known to pause and think about the rationality of what goes around. The second is that professors fail to teach statistics on two counts - they are unable to present solutions in a clear, step-by-step manner and they are unable to make students see the importance of statistics in the field of Psychology. I remember one of my professors coming into the class and laughing about the fact that she barely knew anything about statistics. She would then open a statistics book every lecture and dictate whatever was written in there!

Why is statistics important?

Statistics is important in all behavioral sciences, not only Psychology. It is the central part of research, the importance of which I have already discussed. Let us consider why statistics matters in Psychology in a little details:

• Statistics provide for evidence in research. When a person undertakes a study, say he wants to know the prevalence of smoking in the city. Say he finds that 39% of Mumbaikars smoke regularly. This figure - 39% in re- will help him justify his claim that smoking is a matter of concern to the city. As a consumer of research, you will find that research which presents such substantial figures will help you make decisions about how much you can trust the findings of the research.

• Statistics allows for comparison in research. If I want to know whether individuals with anxiety disorders perform poorly in IQ tests compared to individuals without such disorders, I will compare the IQ scores of two different groups comprised of such individuals. These IQ scores will help me know whether what I had predicted was correct.

• Statistics help generate research questions. For example, if I find that boys consistently have a much lower average score in Psychology as compared to girls in my college, I would like to investigate the reasons for the same and check if some remedial measures are possible.

Many such uses exist for statistics, which are indispensable to our field.

 How will statistics play a role in the career I pursue?

Many students do not appreciate knowledge for knowledge sake and wish to know the practical use of every study. These are the same students who question the study of Algebra and Geometry in school. The good news is that the need to study Statistics is much more apparent than those of other seemingly irrelevant subjects. Following is how Statistics helps you as a student, while you are in the preparing for a career:

• You need to study research in all subjects be it Cognition, Counseling, Consumer Behavior, etc, and in other subjects if you are not majoring in Psychology, like Economics, Political Science, etc. You need to be able to interpret the figures presented in such research to be able to make sense out of it. Statistics has a cross-disciplinary scope.

• You need to perform basic statistics and interpret advanced statistics to some extent in Experimental Psychology (or Practicals) which become a part of your study right from the undergraduate level.

• You need to prepare a dissertation at the post-graduation level in most universities if you major in psychology. Without working knowledge of Statistics, doing this is not possible.

Statistics is not rendered useless even after you embark on your career:

• Some career choices like research, teaching, etc. will directly demand you to have a knowledge of statistics.

• Other choices like counseling, remediation, HR, therapy, etc. will indirectly demand  a knowledge of statistics, in the sense that if you want to keep up with the field - and keep in mind that Psychology is an ever-updating field - you will have to keep pace with the research in this area. Research will not make sense to you unless you can make sense of the statistics presented in it. Besides undertaking research is not confined to professional researchers. Many counselors, therapists, etc. also perform research.

Interestingly, most students dream of setting an independent practice of counseling or therapy after a few years of learning under experts. I do not see how an independent practitioner can expect to succeed unless (s)he can keep up with the latest developments taking place in his/her area of expertise.

 As a student, how can I develop an interest in Statistics?

First, identify the reason you have not developed an interest in this subject. What I have presented above is to highlight the fact that Statistics is generally introduced in the classroom as if it has come out of nowhere, and has no purpose but to be tackled since it is mentioned in the syllabus. It is no wonder then that a subject introduced so callously fails to arouse interest in students. There can be no motivation without purpose.

The key to developing an interest in Statistics is to learn it meaningfully. Understand that what is presented to you as a problem to be solved, is actually that - a problem to be solved! It is not just a bunch of numbers that you need to keep banging into your calculator along with a few symbols to come at the final answer and get done with. Only when you begin a problem with the question in mind, "What is the purpose of this problem?" will you be able to understand and apply statistics meaningfully.

I'll illustrate what I mean with a typical question presented to questions learning basic statistics in Psychology:

Q. A group of ten students has the following scores on an IQ test.

95, 89,89, 98, 93, 85, 89, 100, 92, 88

Find the mean, median and mode of the above set of numbers.

-> The problem is no big deal to students since calculation of descriptive statistics for ungrouped data is something most students do from the lower secondary level. So, the general  approach taken by students is to rapidly apply the formula they know to the numbers, in a bid to be the first person to reach the solution. Hardly any of the students even read the verbal part of the question. They simply look at the numbers, and the words, 'mean, median, mode,' and blast into action. Though this may be a good strategy in a time-limited examination, it is an extremely poor attitude during practice.

What the student needs to do is to carefully read the problem. And I mean the problem, not the numbers. Realize that what has been presented is not a bunch of random numbers but the hypothetical IQ scores of ten students. Does that give you a clue of where statistics may be applied in real life?

Then read what is asked of you, and taking an approach of curiosity, wonder why someone would want to know the mean, median, and mode of this group? Maybe it's the principal of a school who wants these figures because these ten students have been performing poorly in their papers. She wants to know whether their performance is a result of their intelligence.

Go ahead and think how could each of the different statistics - mean, median and mode help her. From your knowledge of these statistics, you should know that:

• the mean may help her know that one average score which she can present to a teacher whom she would like to appoint to perform remedial lessons for these students.The teacher would get an idea of the language and teaching style she needs to adopt with this particular group.

• the median may help her divide this group into smaller groups of five students each, if she feels that there are actually students who can do with two different teaching levels within this group.

• the mode can help her easily communicate with parents or other interested authorities about the performance of these students. She could tell parents about the 'typical' score of the group which would help them get an impression - without having to study a numerical report - of where their children stand and with which students they are being placed.

You can let your imagination fly even when there are only numbers presented with no accompanying words. Though being quick might seem a good way to save time in the present, spending quality time on study in the present saves a lot of hassle in future. Always remember that.