If you want to do evidence-based things, you will want to be able to read an academic paper, including the maths. So you will want to be able to not just understand what is meant by a p-value, but also be able to have thoughts like:
this paper used a normal distribution, but really a students t / logit / whatever distribution would have been better, I wonder how big a difference that makes?
they used a normal approximation for a binomial here—and I do/don’t think that seems like a reasonable approximation
The paper claims this looks like a fairly good fit—they could have used a chi squared test here; I wonder why they didn’t?
This sort of ability wouldn’t be useful if the existing body of research consistently used statistics well, but I don’t think that’s the case.
Final caveat: answering this question is hard because it’s so broad. I’m extrapolating from my own experience, but what’s useful for you might be different.
Note that answering those questions doesn’t require any advanced knowledge of statistics. Completing AP Statistics or an equivalent introductory course should suffice.
I don’t know what they teach in AP statistics, but as an extra data point, these topics weren’t all covered in my MA Public Policy ‘quantitative research methods’ class (at least not in depth)
Definitely agree with the main point though—taking that class has really seriously changed the way I read papers.
I would say probability and statistics.
If you want to do evidence-based things, you will want to be able to read an academic paper, including the maths. So you will want to be able to not just understand what is meant by a p-value, but also be able to have thoughts like:
this paper used a normal distribution, but really a students t / logit / whatever distribution would have been better, I wonder how big a difference that makes?
they used a normal approximation for a binomial here—and I do/don’t think that seems like a reasonable approximation
The paper claims this looks like a fairly good fit—they could have used a chi squared test here; I wonder why they didn’t?
This sort of ability wouldn’t be useful if the existing body of research consistently used statistics well, but I don’t think that’s the case.
Final caveat: answering this question is hard because it’s so broad. I’m extrapolating from my own experience, but what’s useful for you might be different.
+1
Note that answering those questions doesn’t require any advanced knowledge of statistics. Completing AP Statistics or an equivalent introductory course should suffice.
I don’t know what they teach in AP statistics, but as an extra data point, these topics weren’t all covered in my MA Public Policy ‘quantitative research methods’ class (at least not in depth)
Definitely agree with the main point though—taking that class has really seriously changed the way I read papers.