Data Duped: How to Avoid Being Hoodwinked by Misinformation

by Derek W. Gibson, Jeffrey D. Camm

Gives you the superpower to be a healthy skeptic when consuming data and information. Data Duped is a book about how we are commonly deceived by numbers in our everyday lives. From lotteries, product warranties, and weight loss fads to misleading headlines and social media posts, there is no shortage of confusing or misleading information. Numbers are used to manipulate our decisions and impact our lives in ways that may not be immediately apparent. Data Duped will help you avoid being fooled by these messages and to develop a sense of ‘data defense’ by learning what types of questions to ask and how to maintain a healthy level of curiosity and data skepticism. Data Duped guides readers to discern the differences between the plausible and the ridiculous along a journey of informed critical thinking and data literacy. With historical parallels alongside practical and relatable examples, readers will learn how to spot the ‘malarkey’ from the truth and how to avoid being hoodwinked by misinformation.

246 pages, Hardcover

Published July 15, 2023

About the author

Derek W. Gibson has spent most of his career providing business analytics in financial services guiding business strategy and decision-making.
He is a Certified Retirement Planning Specialist (CRPS), and a Certified Retirement Counselor (CRC), and has held FINRA Series 6 and Series 63 licenses. Gibson also serves on the Wake Forest University MS Business Analytics advisory board and has taught as an adjunct professor of Data Analytics and Business Models. He is a frequent speaker to the next generation of data scientists on the trends and needs in the business world. He lives in Greensboro, North Carolina.

Reviews

[Beth Bentz · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this practical and approachable book, Gibson and Carr, business analytic practitioners and educators, provide valuable and straightforward analytic techniques and tools to both understand data and to make better decisions in everyday life and in business. Using relatable examples, they walk us through concepts like bias and spotting patterns. Each chapter ends with useful Key Concepts, which I have referred back to on more than one occasion as I practice my new critical skills gained from the book. In the age where data multiplies by the second and is used out of context so frequently, you owe it to yourself to read this book and gain additional insights to make better and more informed decisions. Well done!

[Vicki Melamud · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great questions are the key to good decisions

Great introduction to data analytics and how to draw great answers from existing data by having a hypothesis and understanding the quality of data used to come up with outcomes.