Statistics and Public Policy

ISBN-13: 9780198523413 / Angielski / Twarda / 1997 / 304 str.

B. D. Spencer

Opis

Statistics--data, methods, and thinking--play important and fascinatin g roles in public issues. Yet, these roles are sometimes unknown to st atistics students and even professional statisticians. This book indic ates some connections between statistics and public issues such as gov ernment policy- or decision-making, public administration, law, and pu blic debate. It describes examples of statistics in public policy area s as disparate as national defense, AIDS diffusion, DNA fingerprinting, human rights violations and scientific manpower among other areas. A lthough a small amount of statistical training is assumed, the emphasi s is on ideas rather than technical detail or mathematical generality. This low technical content makes it accessible to not only statistici ans but social scientists as well. It will also be a useful resource f or teachers of first year statistics.