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THE THERAPIST PSYCHOLOGIST BOOK STORE
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Turning Numbers into Knowledge: Mastering the Art of Problem Solving By Jonathan G. Koomey ( Analytics Press )
Release Date: 2003-04-01
Average Customer Rating:
List Price: $34.95
Price: $25.51 Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25.
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Product Description
Mastering the art of problem solving takes more than proficiency with basic calculations; it requires understanding how people use information, recognizing the importance of ideology, learning the art of storytelling, and acknowledging the important distinction between facts and values. Intended for professors, managers, entrepreneurs, and students, this guide addresses these and other essential skills. With clear prose, quotations, and exercises for solving problems in the real world, this book serves as an ideal training manual for those who are new to or intimidated by quantitative analysis and an excellent refresher for those who have more experience but want to improve the quality of their data, the clarity of their graphics, and the cogency of their arguments.
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The Second Book on Research for Every Researcher ( johnneardc )
The first book each researcher needs teaches the research designs, methods and basic analysis techniques of the researcher's "home" discipline. It will be a different book for each scientific field. This book is not a substitute for such basics. It is an essential complement that teaches the attitudes, tactics, tools and organizational strategies needed to get research done.
A great way to read this book is to open to the preface and use the annotated table of contents to conduct an informal "needs analysis" of your research skills. Do you have the most trouble with organizing your work, with facing criticism, with presenting your work to an audience? Open to the chapter that addresses your greatest weakness and take 10 minutes to read practical, tactical advice that will improve your game.
It's that simple and you don't have to be embarrassed about your need to improve. The chapters are short and to the point. The resources range from web pages you can click to immediately to "Further Reading" books to explore in depth. Check out the book's web resource page at www.numbersintoknowledge.com .
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Delightful excursion in thinking about how to think
It is different from, and for many purposes, better than a science textbook. More than enough science books have been written, but TNIK is better because it teaches readers how to think about the data on which science is built. Its fresh approach to understanding the natural world as well as human-made systems is a noteworthy improvement over the plug-in, grind-out perspective that academic classes typically offer and that turns off students.
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A great primer and reference to fall back on
While no doubt I've heard many of nuggets contained in the book over the course of my high school and college days, I found Koomey's book a pleasurable read and useful synthesis of approaches and tips for completing quality research and analyses. Internalizing Koomey's advice is going to help most readers be more discriminating consumers of published research and better authors of their own research. It's a reference source I've already gone back to myself in just a few weeks and a great training resource for new consultants my company hires.
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Interesting & valuable, though philosophical > statistical ( narcicheng )
I expected the author to talk much about statistical analysis and related "technical stuff". I had been very wrong. In fact, the book can be regarded as a warning to common people about the "irrelevancy" and "inaccuracy" of data or information we encounter or process so that we can perform better analysis of on our own. As from pg 197, "of primary importance from this book are the following lessons:-"
- Don't be intimidated by anyone (esp those know-it-alls)
- Be a critical thinker
- Don't confuse what's countable with what really counts
- Get organized
- Question authority
- Dig into the numbers
- Focus on the essential
- Document, document, document
- Use the internet
- Remember that others don't care as much about your work as you do
- Synthesis follows analysis
In short, a good read. Dont miss it.
p.s. I like the following quotes from the book very much. (The author did use over 31 quotes with at least one for each chapter)
Just because I use a study to refute another study does not mean my study is right. It just means I believe it. Caveat Emptor. - Cynthia Crossen
Whether or not someone else knows it all isn't really relevant; the only thing that's relevant is what you know and what you do. - Robert Ringer
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not for the technically minded ( hartnett )
This is an entertaining and well written book on some of the do's and don'ts of data analysis. To quote from Dr. Beers review below, "The main emphasis is on the art of data interpretation." Indeed there are useful tools here for performing sanity checks and for asking critical questions about all sorts of data collections. ... The examples are, at best, sketchy and few in number. The anectodes are amusing but not terribly informative. I would have much preferred more concrete examples and further discussion on some technical matters. ....
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