Statistics for Non-Statisticians

Headlines, reports and dashboards throw numbers at you and you half-suspect some are dodgy but cannot say why. This gives you the small slice of statistics that helps you spot bad data rather than calculate good data, each concept paired with a real example of it being abused so you recognise the trick next time.

I encounter statistics regularly at {CONTEXT} and I want to be able to evaluate them critically rather than just accepting or rejecting them. I am not a mathematician.

Give me the 20 percent of statistics that covers 80 percent of what I need to avoid being misled by data. Prioritise concepts that help me spot bad statistics rather than calculate good ones. For each concept, give me one real-world example of it being misused and one question I can ask when I encounter it.