Statistics tends to scare people because it's about numbers and math. Well, this is the Twenty-First Century, sort of, depending on whose numbers you believe, but it's all a myth anyway. So is all that stuff about numbers and math a myth.

Statistics is about using your head and thinking, so that somebody with lots of charts and numbers can't fool you. Also, math is a lot more like language than most people are willing to admit. Math is just a different language, and people who are good at language are usually good at math! Surprise!

So this course is going to be about thinking. And I hate to tell you almost the whole course will be word problems. That's because we have computers now. They do the arithmetic for us. SPSS will even do the percentages for you! Honest!

This course will also be writing-intensive. That means you can't pass it without writing. Honest! But we'll teach how to do the writing, and we'll help you, and you can help each other. Not only can you help each other, I'm going to insist on it. Your grade will depend on your written work.

There are lots of practice tests up on the site. We hope you'll do most of them. But they aren't required. They really are just for you to practice with. They teach you what you need to know to do the writing.

What will we write? Well, that will depend on what you need statistics for. Mostly, we will write short paragraphs on what the tables and graphs mean. You'll need to understand graphs and tables. If you want an A in the course, you'll need to do a pretty good job on these interpretations. We'll give you models.

But we'll also look for graphs and tables in your texts, in the newspaper, in reports at your work. It helps to understand them. Don't let numbers intimidate you.

Some of you are already intimidated by the very thought of this course. I'm not going to ask you to write 500 times "I CAN do this!," but maybe it would help, because you can, you know. What I would like you to do is to find every way you can possibly use what you're learning in here, and then tell me about it. Keep a journal of your own, so you can see the fears and insecurities drop away as you recognize how much you can do with statistics.

---

---