Does a young person commit suicide every thirteen minutes in the United States? Are four million women really battered to death by their husbands or boyfriends each year? Is methamphetamine our number one drug problem today? Alarming statistics bombard our daily lives, appearing in the news, on the Web, seemingly everywhere. But all too often, even the most respected publications present numbers that are miscalculated, misinterpreted, hyped, or simply misleading. This new edition contains revised benchmark statistics, updated resources, and a new section on the rhetorical uses of statistics, complete with new problems to be spotted and new examples illustrating those problems. Joel Best’s best seller exposes questionable uses of statistics and guides the reader toward becoming a more critical, savvy consumer of news, information, and data. Entertaining, informative, and concise, Stat-Spotting takes a commonsense approach to understanding data and doesn't require advanced math or statistics.

This edition updates benchmarks, includes a new chapter on rhetoric, updated a few examples, and thoroughly updated the bibliography.

In this sequel to the acclaimed Damned Lies and Statistics, which the Boston Globe said "deserves a place next to the dictionary on every school, media, and home-office desk," Joel Best continues his straightforward, lively, and humorous account of how statistics are produced, used, and misused by everyone from researchers to journalists. Underlining the importance of critical thinking in all matters numerical, Best illustrates his points with examples of good and bad statistics about such contemporary concerns as school shootings, fatal hospital errors, bullying, teen suicides, deaths at the World Trade Center, college ratings, the risks of divorce, racial profiling, and fatalities caused by falling coconuts. More Damned Lies and Statistics encourages all of us to think in a more sophisticated and skeptical manner about how statistics are used to promote causes, create fear, and advance particular points of view. Best identifies different sorts of numbers that shape how we think about public issues: missing numbers are relevant but overlooked; confusing numbers bewilder when they should inform; scary numbers play to our fears about the present and the future; authoritative numbers demand respect they don’t deserve; magical numbers promise unrealistic, simple solutions to complex problems; and contentious numbers become the focus of data duels and stat wars. The author's use of pertinent, socially important examples documents the life-altering consequences of understanding or misunderstanding statistical information. He demystifies statistical measures by explaining in straightforward prose how decisions are made about what to count and what not to count, what assumptions get made, and which figures are brought to our attention. Best identifies different sorts of numbers that shape how we think about public issues. Entertaining, enlightening, and very timely, this book offers a basis for critical thinking about the numbers we encounter and a reminder that when it comes to the news, people count—in more ways than one.

This is a clear and innovative overview of statistics which emphasises major ideas, essential skills and real-life data. The organisation and design has been improved for the fifth edition, coverage of engaging, real-world topics has been increased and content has been updated to appeal to today's trends and research.

As the world’s second largest economy, China has made great progress in developing criminology. The Routledge Handbook of Chinese Criminology aims to be a key reference point to summarize the large body of literature in both Chinese and English about various aspects of crime and its control in China for international scholars with an interest in the development of criminological research on and in the Greater China region, and for everyone with a broad interest in international criminology. The editors of the handbook have selected authoritative contributors recognized for their research and scholarship on China, Hong Kong Macao, and Taiwan. This handbook consists of five sections: An account of the development of criminology as an academic discipline in modern China, as well as some of the unique theories, strategies, or philosophies of crime control that have emerged, An analysis of the criminal justice system in China, including the police, the courts, corrections, juvenile justice and the death penalty, An exploration of the issues and problems in conducting research in China, Reflections on the nature of crime and criminality in China, including drugs, prostitution, human trafficking, corruption, floating population, domestic violence, and white-collar crime, An account of crime and criminal justice in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao. The book presents a coherent and comprehensive collection of essays on current research and theory in criminology, crime and justice in China and Greater China, and the Editors’ Introduction and Conclusion provide further contextualisation of the Handbook’s key themes.

Practice your way to a higher statistics score The adage that "practice makes perfect" is never truer than with math problems. Statistics Workbook For Dummies with Online Practice provides succinct content reviews for every topic, with plenty of examples and practice problems for each concept, in the book and online. Every lesson begins with a concept review, followed by a few example problems and plenty of practice problems. There's a step-by-step solution for every problem, with tips and tricks to help with comprehension and retention. New for this edition, free online practice quizzes for each chapter provide extra opportunities to test your knowledge and understanding. Get FREE access to chapter quizzes in an online test bank Work along with each chapter or use the test bank for final exam review Discover which statistical measures are most meaningful Scoring high in your Statistics class has never been easier!

Being a critical reader of numerical information is an integral part of being literate in today’s data-drenched world. Uniquely addressing both mathematics and language issues, this text shows how critical readers dig beneath the surface of data to better evaluate their usefulness and to understand how numbers are constructed by authors to portray a certain version of reality. Engaging, concise, and rich with examples and clear connections to classroom practice, it provides a framework of critical questions that children and teachers can pose to crack open authors’ intentions, expose their decisions, and make clear who are the winners and losers – questions that are essential for building democratic classrooms. Explaining and illustrating how K-8 teachers can engage students in developing the ability to be both critical composers and critical readers of texts, Learning to Read the Numbers is designed for teacher education courses across the areas of language arts, mathematics, and curriculum studies, and for elementary teachers, administrators, and literacy and mathematics coaches. Learning to Read the Numbers is a co-publication of The National Council of Teachers of English (www.ncte.org) and Routledge.