Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Surveying The Landscape Of Numbers In U.S. News, John Voiklis, Jena Barchas-Lichtenstein, Bennett Attaway, Uduak G. Thomas, Shivani Ishwar, Patti Parson, Laura Santhanam, Isabella Isaacs-Thomas

Numeracy

The news arguably serves to inform the quantitative reasoning (QR) of news audiences. Before one can contemplate how well the news serves this function, we first need to determine how much QR typical news stories require from readers. This paper assesses the amount of quantitative content present in a wide array of media sources, and the types of QR required for audiences to make sense of the information presented. We build a corpus of 230 US news reports across four topic areas (health, science, economy, and politics) in February 2020. After classifying reports for QR required at both the conceptual …

An Introduction To Calling Bullshit: Learning To Think Outside The Black Box, Jevin D. West, Carl T. Bergstrom

Numeracy

Bergstrom, Carl T. and Jevin D. West. 2020. Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World. (New York: Random House) 336 pp. ISBN 978-0525509202.

While statistical methods receive greater attention, the art of critically evaluating information in everyday life more commonly depends on thinking outside the black box of the algorithm. In this piece we introduce readers to our book and associated online teaching materials—for readers who want to more capably call “bullshit” or to teach their students to do the same.

Quantitative Literacy And Guns, William Briggs

Numeracy

Briggs, William. 2017. How America Got Its Guns: A History of the Gun Violence Crisis; (Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press). 352 pp. Paperback: ISBN 978-0-8263-5813-4. E-book ISBN 978-0-8263-5814-1.

Quantitative literacy and statistics are just two of many disciplines required to understand the problem of gun violence in America. However, it’s also useful to appreciate their limitations in an issue that is so complex.

Guns And The Limits Of Numeracy: Review Of How America Got Its Guns: A History Of The Gun Violence Crisis, By William Briggs., Joel Best

Numeracy

William Briggs. 2017. How America Got Its Guns: A History of the Gun Violence Crisis; (Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press). Paperback: ISBN 978-0-8263-5813-4. E-book ISBN 978-0-8263-5814-1.

Mathematician William Briggs (co-author of the well-regarded Understanding and Using Mathematics) has written a remarkably thorough and evenhanded analysis of gun policy in the United States that draws upon the work of historians, legal scholars, social scientists, and advocates. He gives respectful hearings to claims about the importance of both gun rights and gun control. The breadth of his coverage makes it almost certain that any reader will discover new angles …

Be Careful! That Is Probably Bullshit! Review Of Calling Bullshit: The Art Of Skepticism In A Data-Driven World By Carl T. Bergstrom And Jevin D. West, James B. Schreiber

Numeracy

Bergstrom, C. T., & West, J. D. 2021. Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World. NY: Random House. 336 pp. ISBN 978-0525509189

The authors provide a journey through the numerical bullshit that surrounds our daily lives. Each chapter has multiple examples of specific types of bullshit that each of us experience on any given day. Most importantly, information on how to identify bullshit and refute it are provided so that reader finishes the book with a set of skills to be a more engaged and critical interpreter of information. The writing has a quick and lively …

Lessons From The Pandemic, Nathan D. Grawe

Numeracy

The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the importance of quantitative literacy--for policy makers and the public at large. While all aspects of numeracy have been shown relevant to the past year, our need for broader statistical literacy appear particularly pressing. Pandemic experiences may motivate greater interest in developing numeracy skills.

Engaging Social Science Students With Statistics: Opportunities, Challenges And Barriers, Charlotte Brookfield, Malcolm Williams, Luke Sloan, Emily Maule

Numeracy

In 2012, in a bid to improve the quantitative methods training of social science students in the UK, the £19.5 million Q-Step project was launched. This investment demonstrated a significant commitment to changing how we train social science students in quantitative research methods in the UK. The project has involved eighteen higher education institutions exploring and trialling potential ways of engaging social science students with quantitative approaches.

This paper reflects on the activities of one Q-Step centre based in the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University. As well as describing some of the pedagogic changes that have been implemented, …

Journalism And Numeracy In Context: Four Case Studies, Steven Harrison

Numeracy

Although research into the relationship between quantitative literacy (QL) and news reporting is sparse, the consensus among researchers is that journalists tend not to place QL very highly among their professional values and that journalism suffers as a consequence. This paper is an attempt to provide concrete examples of the ways in which news reports systemically misinterpret, misrepresent, or misuse numerical data as part of the reporting process. Drawing on scenarios ranging from elections and healthcare to the mundane world of food preparation, it shows how a lack of rigour in the fields of reporting and news production can lead …

Review Of Innumeracy In The Wild: Misunderstanding And Misusing Numbers By Ellen Peters, Gizem Karaali

Numeracy

Ellen Peters’s new book Innumeracy in the Wild: Misunderstanding and Misusing Numbers (Oxford University Press, 2020) is a whirlwind tour of psychological research on numeracy and its interactions with decision-making. The book is packed full of convincing arguments about the impact of numeracy and innumeracy on people's decisions and life outcomes, piles of supporting evidence and relevant references, and detailed expositions of multitudes of research results. Thus, it can serve the motivated reader well as a comprehensive literature review of psychologically oriented research on numeracy and decision-making.

How Social Workers Count: Numbers And Social Issues Came To Be, Michael A. Lewis

Numeracy

Lewis, Michael Anthony. 2019. Social Workers Count: Numbers and Social Issues (New York: Oxford University Press) 224 pp. ISBN 978-0190467135.

This essay introduces Social Workers Count: Numbers and Social Issues by Michael Anthony Lewis. Inspired by the seminal work of Bennett and Briggs, Lewis shares how he came to write a math book for social workers to meet new demands as the field has developed to include more quantitative concepts. The result is a book that may be of interest to many in the quantitative reasoning movement in the social sciences and beyond.

Reflections On Innumeracy In The Wild, Ellen M. Peters

Numeracy

Peters, E. (2020). Innumeracy in the Wild: Misunderstanding and Misusing Numbers. (New York, NY: Oxford University Press) 315 pp. ISBN 978-0190861094

This piece briefly introduces and excerpts Innumeracy in the Wild: Misunderstanding and Misusing Numbers, written by Ellen Peters and published by Oxford University Press. Through a state-of-art review of the literature, the book explains how numeric ability supports the quality of the decisions people make and the life outcomes they experience. It presents three ways that people can be good or bad with numbers and how each of these numeric competencies matter to decision making.