Statistical Inferences and Creative Thinking

“I can see nothing,” said I, handing it back to my friend. “On the contrary, Watson, you see everything. You fail, however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in drawing your inferences.”

                                            Dr. Watson and Sherlock Holmes
                                            The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle

Abstract

This paper discusses the use of statistical inferences in creative thinking and problem solving. It forms a subset of the larger work on developing a university-wide course on Creative Thinking and Problem Solving. The conventional works on creative thinking, critical thinking, constructive thinking, and problem solving rely primarily on techniques used in disciplines such language and logic. The work presented in this paper offers the use of statistical concepts and methods as meaningful components for creative thinking and problem solving activities.

1. Introduction

2. Creative Thinking and Statistics

3. Raw Data And Data Aggregations By Categories

4. Measures Of Central Tendency

5. Assessing Sample Values On The Basis Of Sample Statistics

6. Conclusions

7. Cited References