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.
For your initial post, address the following:
What are some ways that statistics are useful for modern society? Include at least one recent (within the past five years) scholarly source to support your response.
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
Sample Answer
Statistics are invaluable in modern society, serving as a fundamental tool for understanding, interpreting, and making decisions based on data. They provide a quantitative language for describing complex phenomena, from public health trends to economic fluctuations. For example, in public health, statistics are used to track the spread of diseases, evaluate the effectiveness of vaccines, and identify health disparities among different populations. The use of statistical models during the COVID-19 pandemic, for instance, was essential for forecasting case numbers and informing public policy decisions on lockdowns and resource allocation. A scholarly source by Han et al. (2020) highlights how statistical analysis, particularly in fields like data mining and machine learning, has become critical for developing more accurate disease prediction models and enhancing the efficiency of healthcare systems.Statistics are invaluable in modern society, serving as a fundamental tool for understanding, interpreting, and making decisions based on data. They provide a quantitative language for describing complex phenomena, from public health trends to economic fluctuations. For example, in public health, statistics are used to track the spread of diseases, evaluate the effectiveness of vaccines, and identify health disparities among different populations. The use of statistical models during the COVID-19 pandemic, for instance, was essential for forecasting case numbers and informing public policy decisions on lockdowns and resource allocation. A scholarly source by Han et al. (2020) highlights how statistical analysis, particularly in fields like data mining and machine learning, has become critical for developing more accurate disease prediction models and enhancing the efficiency of healthcare systems.