Ep. 189: Storytelling with Data: How to Make Statistics Less Scary and More Relevant in Our World

Numbers can tell us a lot about the world, but only if we understand the people and experiences behind them. In this episode of Psychology and Stuff, host Dr. Alison Jane Martingano sits down with Dr. Georjeanna Wilson-Doenges, Professor of Psychology at UW-Green Bay, to discuss the power of storytelling in statistics and why making data meaningful matters more than ever.

Drawing on her decades of teaching statistics and research methods, Georjeanna explains how connecting numbers to real-world experiences can reduce math anxiety, improve scientific communication, and help people see the relevance of data in their own lives. From interpreting uncertainty and visualizing data to questioning the assumptions behind averages, their conversation explores the importance of human judgment in an age of AI, the lessons educators can learn from their students, and how a better understanding of statistics can help us tell more honest, compassionate, and impactful stories.