401-3620-69L  Student Seminar in Statistics: The Art of Statistics

SemesterAutumn Semester 2019
LecturersM. H. Maathuis
Periodicityevery semester recurring course
Language of instructionEnglish
CommentNumber of participants limited to 24

Mainly for students from the Mathematics Bachelor and Master Programmes who, in addition to the introductory course unit 401-2604-00L Probability and Statistics, have heard at least one core or elective course in statistics. Also offered in the Master Programmes Statistics resp. Data Science.


AbstractWe will study the book "The Art of Statistics: Learning from Data" by David Spiegelhalter. The focus of the book is not so much on technical aspects, but more on concepts, philosophical aspects, statistical thinking and communication. Chapters will be presented by pairs of students, followed by an open discussion with everyone in the class.
ObjectiveWe will study roughly one chapter per week from the book "The Art of Statistics: Learning from Data" by David Spiegelhalter. The focus of the book is not so much on technical aspects, but more on concepts, philosophical aspects, statistical thinking and communication. This will also be the focus of the class, but we may occasionally look up additional information from references that are given in the book. Besides improving your statistical thinking, you will practice your self-studying, collaboration and presentation skills.
LiteratureDavid Spiegelhalter (2019). The Art of Statistics: Learning from Data. UK: Pelican. ISBN: 978-0-241-39863-0
Prerequisites / NoticeBesides an introductory course in Probability and Statistics, we require one subsequent Statistics course. We also expect some experience with the statistical software R. Topics will be assigned during the first meeting.