Teaching statistics = teaching thinking statistically

摘要

What is "objective statistics"? How can a statistics teacher teach it? Is it possible at all? These topics are discussed in this essay. It is shown that statistics is subjective; this is pictured with an example of a relationship between two quantitative continuous variables, for which various statistical approaches can be applied. This subjectivity should not nevertheless be thought of as a bad thing - it is the intrinsic part that makes statistics an art of dealing with data. To teach statistics well, then, means to teach thinking statistically, to teach understanding statistics, and not only to teach applying statistics.