Victory Briefs/Lincoln-Douglas Lesson: How to Think Statistically

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Lincoln-Douglas Lesson: How to Think Statistically

This two-part lesson will explain the importance of statistics in LD debate, and provide students with practical strategies to improve their use of stats. 

Instructor: Marshall Thompson

Director of Curriculum at Victory Briefs. PhD student in philosophy at Florida State University. 

Contents

Section 1: Why We Need Statistics

By Marshall Thompson

In this unit we will look at why statistics are so particularly valuable when trying to assess impacts in debate.
How to Think Statistically 1
Activity 1
How to Think Statistically 2
Activity 2
How to Think Statistically 3
Activity 3
Additional Resources

Section 2: Attributing Causality

How to Think Statistically 4
Activity 4
How to Think Statistically 5
Activity 5
Activity 6
How to Think Statistically 6
Activity 7
How to Think Statistically 7
Activity 8
Additional Resources

Review Quiz

There is a great deal of research that suggests taking a quiz immediately following a lesson SIGNIFICANTLY improves long term retention of the information. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Testing_effect

Thus, we encourage you to take the following quiz. Note, these questions are difficult and you should not worry if you get them wrong. Just take the time afterward to review the explanations of the correct answers. The act of taking the quiz goes a long way towards helping you retain this information. We made the questions difficult so that you can learn something new from the answers. 
Questions
Answers