Author: John W. Davis

ISBN: 978-1-7339557-9-9

About the Book: 

Illuminating the chasm between study and decision making in practice, John Davis insists: “The marriage of academic study and commercial practice holds dramatic benefits for both.” Now, in this introduction to information and the insight it can bring, he lays out the reasons why the meaning and structure of our information directly relates to its value for businesses, governments, and individuals who need to get it right the first time. All data, he reminds us, are not created equal.

He begins with a challenge: what is the problem we’re trying to solve? “Our data collection should be driven by that problem, and measuring the problem is how we’ll know when we’ve solved it.” Through the practical statistics labs and real-world examples in this document, we gain a more-intuitive-than-math understanding of measurement craft and scientific application to everyday considerations of our problems.

Determined to make his students more intelligent consumers of data resources, John’s discussion of the aspects of our data that lead to, or prevent, good solutions and predictions is must-read material for anyone who wants to understand what all the data hype is about, and why so many fail to make the promises of evidence-based decision making come true.

About the Author: 

John W. Davis lives in Austin, Texas, and is an award-winning lecturer in the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin. His 35 years in practice has led insightful innovation for domestic and global firms by studying the psychology of consumer appetites. His teaching prepares the next generation of practitioners for a more fruitful application of science to business practice.