Possibility and Statistics: How to Use Data to Illuminate Pathways to Success

“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 succes