There are a lot of free introductory courses in Statistics on the world wide web. I repeat…these courses are free. No money out of your pocket. No gimmicky promises…no dinero. You sign-up and you get information. Free facts about any topic… you could learn how to cook a five-course meal on a youtube channel. You could get instructions on how to deep fry a turkey for the holidays. The choices are endless. Learning is only a click away. However….every source is not necessarily showing you all facts to meet your objectives. There are plenty of statistical programming sources where you can learn how to generate code – but do you need it? Who is teaching the course? What are their credentials? Does the material help you harness skills in a real world environment? In an introductory statistics course you are instructed on how to calculate a Z-score. But in reality, no researcher uses a z score for their research purposes. And if they do – that means they know the answer (please see my previous blogs on the topic). So here is what I suggest, the next time you entertain taking a course- ask your self whether you will learn how to think like an expert. Because if the course does not prepare you for empirical work- it’s not free. The cost is your time.
-Moore to follow Amy
