Tim Harford’s 10 statistical commandments

I bought my mom a copy of Tim Harford’s “The Data Detective” and checked it out myself, meaning to re-read it in parallel with her. She didn’t get to reading it and my re-reading has lagged. It’s now overdue so I’ll miss doing a proper review at this moment; I’ll take this as a sign to buy my own copy. But I want to try paraphrasing his 10 statistical commandments as I at least re-read the last chapter: “Search your feelings.” Notice your emotional reaction to a claim but don’t let that determine whether you accept or reject it. “Ponder your personal experience.” Combine the abstract, general view provided by statistics with the messy, specific reality provided by our own personal experience, looking for tension and complement. (A related idea I kept in mind as an analyst was that if an effect is real, we should be able to see examples of it happening; not finding any would indicate a bug in the analysis or metrics collection; looking at examples may also cause us to change our…