Article Title

Taking Multiple Regression Analysis to Task: A Review of Mindware: Tools for Smart Thinking, by Richard Nisbett (2015)

Authors

Jason Makansi, Pearl Street Inc.Follow

Keywords

multiple regression analysis, quantitative literacy, critical thinking, psychology, epistemology, correlation, causation

Abstract

Richard Nisbett. 2015. Mindware: Tools for Smart Thinking.(New York, NY: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux). 336 pp. ISBN: 9780374536244

Nisbett, a psychologist, may not achieve his stated goal of teaching readers to “effortlessly” extend their common sense when it comes to quantitative analysis applied to everyday issues, but his critique of multiple regression analysis (MRA) in the middle chapters of Mindware is worth attention from, and contemplation by, the QL/QR and Numeracy community. While in at least one other source, Nisbett’s critique has been called a “crusade” against MRA, what he really advocates is that it not be used as a substitute for actual experiments.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5038/1936-4660.12.2.17

Recommended Citation

Makansi, Jason. "Taking Multiple Regression Analysis to Task: A Review of Mindware: Tools for Smart Thinking, by Richard Nisbett (2015)." Numeracy 12, Iss. 2 (2019): Article 17. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5038/1936-4660.12.2.17

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License