About Statistics: Power from Data!

Statistics: Power from Data! is a product from Statistics Canada that will assist readers in getting the most from statistics. Each chapter is intended to be complete in itself, allowing users to go directly to the topic they wish to learn more about without reading all of the previous sections.

It is published primarily for secondary students of Mathematics and Information Studies, although it is expected that the product will find a wider use among other students, teachers and the general population.

This online product has been created and modified using comments and requests from teachers, about the topics they would like to see covered, and the amount of time that could be devoted to that topic in a course. Along with extensive text, this online product contains exercises to help students consolidate their understanding of the presented material.

The online product aims to help students:

• gain confidence in using statistical information to complete study requirements
• appreciate the importance of statistical information in today's society
• make critical use of information that is presented to them

All of these goals are at the heart of Statistics Canada's mission to assist informed decision-making in the Canadian community.

The release of Statistics: Power from Data! continues Statistics Canada's commitment to provide service and appropriate resource materials to the education community in Canada.

This product will be continually updated to keep information as relevant and topical as possible.

Note to users:

The length of time devoted to a topic does not reflect its importance in the overall survey process but rather, as mentioned above, how well it fits into the students' curriculum. This explains why there is a detailed section on creating graphs, while topics like data weighting and estimation are only briefly mentioned. Graphing is a tool that is appropriate for secondary students while data estimation has been deemed too technical for this audience.

If you have comments or suggestions, please contact us.