L’insegnamento della Statistica in ambito multidisciplinare - Parte seconda: Statistica e incertezza

Statistics can be an important tool to present in class, not only as a certain number of formulas to learn and apply, but as a set of elements that lead to reasoning in front of a problem. In “Teaching Statistics in a Multidisciplinary Area - Part One”1, I presented some basic elements of descriptive Statistics, highlighting some critical issues that can emerge from statistics done in a rushed manner or not contextualized and therefore incorrect. In this second part, I will present some topics related to Probability. Statistics must consider uncertainty, which is present in data collection, in the choice of a sample, and so on. The Calculus of Probabilities is a necessary step for those who want to do statistics, as well as for being able to read critically what we see in data processing. Topics presented in class and that may seem too theoretical or useless, take shape in a different way in the face of statistical analyses that ask to be able to get information from the data in order to be able to make decisions. In this second part I will present biomedical applications that are of interest not only to those in the field. In fact, I will talk about Probability applied to diagnostic tests and risk measures. These topics, arising from the possibility of working as a mathematician in a multidisciplinary field, can be presented in class even as for independent lessons, to give some practical examples. Sharing questions and designing experiments together to reach some objectives, is an important team game, where everyone brings their specific contribution to the personal growth and of the entire team. I think that this way of working together can also be an important lesson for school students.