Full Description
"Possibility and Statistics" (P.S.) is a rigorously ethical, mixed-method way of knowing that centers lived experience, assets, and human agency; treats oral narratives as primary data; and designs measures, tools, and dissemination practices to cultivate flourishing rather than manage risk. Ivory A. Toldson's Possibility and Statistics is more than a book about statistical methods; it is a profound and necessary intervention into the soul of education and social science. It is a methodological treatise and a deeply personal work of literary scholarship that redefines the purpose of data in a world saturated with it. By developing a new statistical language, Toldson demonstrates that the principles of possibility—care, context, and potential—can be as analytically rigorous as the principles of probability.
Possibility and Statistics introduces a new analytical toolkit; formula-driven methods designed to quantify hope. Metrics like the Overcoming Adversity Index (OAI), which measures success relative to context; the Potential Realization Quotient (PRQ), which quantifies achievement beyond statistical expectations; and the Resource Parity Index (RPI), which measures inequities in resources, give practitioners tangible tools.
Toldson crafts a powerful argument that the tools of statistics, so often used to document despair and predict failure, must be re-engineered to architect hope and cultivate human potential. The result is a work that is at once a rigorous academic text and a moral call to arms for researchers, educators, policymakers, and anyone who wields data that touches human lives.
Contents
Part I. From Probability's Shadow to Possibility's Dawn: Reclaiming the Narrative of Data
Chapter 1. When Probability Masks Potential
Chapter 2. The Veneer of Objectivity: Power, Privilege, and Perspective in Data
Chapter 3. Foundations of Possibility and Statistics
Part II. Architecting Inquiry: Designing, Measuring, and Narrating Possibility
Chapter 4. Research Design for Possibility-Oriented Inquiry
Chapter 5. Analytical Methods and Formulas for Possibility and Statistics
Chapter 6. Qualitative Methods for a Grounded Possibility and Statistics
Chapter 7. A Possibility and Statistics Approach to the Systematic Review
Part III. Possibility in Action: Cultivating Change Across Human Systems
Chapter 8. The Possibility-Oriented Practitioner
Chapter 9. Possibility and Statistics in Education: Nurturing Individual Potential and Systemic Humanity
Chapter 10. Possibility and Statistics Beyond Education: Human-Centered Applications in Health, Justice, and Community
Chapter 11. The Art, Science, and Soul of Possibility and Statistics
Part IV. The Path Forward: Embracing a Future Shaped by Human-Centered Data
Chapter 12. Dismantling the Pyramid: What Research 1 (R1) Scholars Can Learn From HBCU Research
Chapter 13. Beyond the Ivory Tower: Research as Liberation Through Community Translation
Chapter 14. The Future of Possibility and Statistics: Advancing a Human-First Approach in a Technological Age
