The Future of Statistical Thinking.

As Marriott (2014) reviews the development of statistical thinking over the last century, he provides an interesting quotation from the 1950 address given by S.S. Wilks to the 110th Annual Meeting of the American Statistical Association, in which Wilks states, “Statistical thinking will one day be as necessary for efficient citizenship as the ability to read and write” (p. 79).

Review the article, The Future of Statistical Thinking. Take a position. Is it true today that statistics are necessary in modern society?

First, title your post either “Understanding Statistics Is Necessary to Be an Effective Citizen” or “Understanding Statistics Is NOT Necessary to Be an Effective Citizen.”

For your initial post, address the following:

• Make your case by persuasively supporting your position. Include at least one recent (within the past five years) scholarly source to support your position.
• Relate one of these programmatic course themes to your position about whether statistics are indispensable in modern society. You may want to review the Programmatic Themes document.
  • Social justice
  • Career connections

In your responses to your peers, consider how well they justified their positions, making use of available sources. Consider the following questions in your response posts:

• Did they support their position convincingly using scholarly sources?
• Which of their points makes the most sense to you, even if you made a case for the opposing viewpoint?
• Post an article, video, or visual to reinforce a peer’s idea or challenge them to see their point from a different perspective.

To complete this assignment, review the Discussion Rubric. You will also need:

• Norms of Practice for Online Discussion
• Ethical Usage Practices

Marriott, N. (2014). The future of statistical thinking. Significance, 11(5), 78-80. Royal Statistical Society. doi:10.1111/j.1740-9713.2014.00787.x