David Hand Books

"Data describe and represent the world. However, no matter how big they may be, data sets don't - indeed cannot - capture everything. Data are measurements - and, as such, they represent only what has been measured. They don't necessarily capture all the information that is relevant to the questions we may want to ask. If we do not take into account what may be missing/unknown in the data we have, we may find ourselves unwittingly asking questions that our data cannot actually address, come to mistaken conclusions, and make disastrous decisions. In this book, David Hand looks at the ubiquitous phenomenon of "missing data." He calls this "dark data" (making a comparison to "dark matter" - i.e., matter in the universe that we know is there, but which is invisible to direct measurement). He reveals how we can detect when data is missing, the types of settings in which missing data are likely to be found, and what to do about it. It can arise for many reasons, which themselves may not be obvious - for example, asymmetric information in wars; time delays in financial trading; dropouts in clinical trials; deliberate selection to enhance apparent performance in hospitals, policing, and schools; etc. What becomes clear is that measuring and collecting more and more data (big data) will not necessarily lead us to better understanding or to better decisions. We need to be vigilant to what is missing or unknown in our data, so that we can try to control for it. How do we do that? We can be alert to the causes of dark data, design better data-collection strategies that sidestep some of these causes - and, we can ask better questions of our data, which will lead us to deeper insights and better decisions"-- Provided by publisher

This Very Short Introduction explores the concept of measurement, its mathematical underpinnings, and its wide range of application from the sciences and social sciences to economics and commerce

This book is about the function and use of official statistics. It welcomes the aspiration for official statistics to be an indispensable element in the information system of a democratic society, serving the government, the economy and the public with data about the economic, demographic, social and environmental situation. The book identifies the political role of official statisticians, who decided what gets measured as well as how it is measured. While thousands of official statistics are published every year, and some are quoted by politicians, used by policy-makers or reported in the media, the authors observe that, in the main, official statistics do not feature much in everyday lives of people and businesses. The book concludes with suggestions for more that should be done, especially in the context of improving wellbeing and helping meet the worldwide set of sustainable development goals set for 2030.

Glückspilze, die mehrfach im Lotto gewinnen, Unglücksraben, die wiederholt der Blitz trifft, extreme Krisen an den Finanzmärkten aus vermeintlich heiterem Himmel: Außerordentlich unwahrscheinliche Dinge - Wunder im positiven, Katastrophen im negativen Sinne - geschehen immer wieder. Die Frage ist nur: Warum? Und: Wie? Lieben Sie Geschichten über bestürzende Zufälle und außerordentlich seltene Ereignisse? Dann sollten Sie genauso zu diesem Buch greifen, wie wenn Sie endlich eine seriöse Methode kennenlernen möchten, Ihre Chance auf einen Lottogewinn zu erhöhen. So anschaulich wie vergnüglich weiht David Hand uns in die Macht des Unwahrscheinlichen und seine physikalischen, statistischen und psychologischen Gesetze ein. Kommen diese zusammen, ist die Wirkung verblüffend. Dann können wir uns darauf gefasst machen, dass das Unvorstellbare eintritt. Jeden Tag.

V éře velkých dat je snadné podlehnout dojmu, že máme všechny informace, které k správnému rozhodování potřebujeme. Ve skutečnosti však nejsou data, která máme, nikdy úplná. Stejně jako většina vesmíru sestává z temné hmoty, neviditelné a přesto přítomné, je vesmír informací plný temných dat, která k vlastní škodě přehlížíme. Kniha zkoumá množství způsobů, kterými nás mohou chybějící data zaslepit vůči skutečnosti a vést nás k závěrům a skutkům, jež jsou pomýlené, nebezpečné, ba dokonce katastrofální. Učí nás nejen jak se mít na pozoru před problémy, které představuje to, co nevíme, ale také jak využít temných dat k vlastní výhodě tím, že budeme lépe chápat to, o čem se rozhodujeme. Dnes se na základě dat rozhodujeme všichni. David Hand nám ukazuje, jak se pokud možno nerozhodovat špatně.