Introduction to Statistics without Maths: Basic Inferential Statistics

Become a whiz at inferential statistics

It’s often said that the most predictable thing about life is its unpredictability; so it’s no wonder why making sense of the world around us can feel overwhelming.

But with the help of inferential statistics, you can apply logic to a realm of randomness and gain insights to make better decisions.

On this two-week, online course from the University of Lincoln, build your repertoire of statistics skills without needing an extensive maths background. Explore various inferential methods, from basic correlations to contingency tables.

Explore probability theory and hypothesis testing

Delve into the basics of probabilities, normal distribution, and hypothesis testing, providing foundational knowledge essential for quantitative data analysis.

Build a framework for real-world data analysis by learning how to standardise data with Z-scores and calculate P-values.

Grasp correlation principles, such as contingency tables and degrees of freedom

You’ll gain an understanding of the fundamentals of statistical correlations, learning how to assess relationships between variables and interpret their significance in data analysis.

By the end of this course, you’ll be able to confidently and correctly identify correlations and patterns in categorical and continuous data to make informed decisions or predictions.

Learn from the University of Lincoln’s Experts on Statistics

The University of Lincoln’s experts in Statistics have developed innovative approaches to teaching statistical concepts. They will be there to guide you throughout this course.

Once you’ve finished this course, you can consider joining the next course from the University of Lincoln: Learn Descriptive Statistics without Maths: Combining Data.

This course is designed for anyone interested in statistics and data analysis. You don’t need a maths background, but it may be helpful to refresh your skills with the course, Introduction to Statistics without Maths: Descriptive Statistics.

To really understand data analysis, you will need to also spend some time to learn using the techniques taught on the course. There are lots of different programmes that you can use - please choose the one you are comfortable with. Jamovi is one such option and the one we use within the course:

• Jamovi. This is a free software that you can download onto your computer. A cloud version is available but requires you to create an account and has some limitations in functionality. You can download this at https://jamovi.org/.
• Alongside this, we recommend you work through the step-by-step Jamovi guides available on the StatsMadeEasy Website - link.

• Normal Distributions, Z-Scores and the Standard Error
• Course Overview
• Correlations: The Basics - Normal Distribution
• Standard Errors, Z-Scores and Confidence Intervals
• Weeks Summary
• Hypothesis Testing, Correlations, and Parametric Testing
• Overview of Weeks Content
• Probabilities and Hypothesis Testing
• Correlations: The Basics - Statistical Tests
• Parametric versus Non-Parametric Testing
• Degrees of Freedom
• Course Summary