Abusing the Use of Statistics, page 1
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Topic started on 1-2-2008 @ 06:13 PM by die_another_day
From newspapers to blogs to forums, statistics has been used widely and became a mind altering element in the media. We however, statistics have many conditions that determines the validity of a claim. Most of the studies that I have seen from newspapers and espicially the Associated Press have been inappropriately done as if they were made in the hands of toddlers. Statistics is a complex subject that requires mathematical skills, verbal and rhetorical skills, and espicially logic.
All of those "20% of people, blah blah blah can't locate the US on the map" or those "20% believes" in geocentrism or the genesis or "2% of the people said they wre abducted by aliens" are baseless. How were the studies done, did they sample 10 people?, 5 people? or did they ask a class of five yearolds. Most of the time, these informations are not given, and apparently many people believe these baseless statistics. When a study has bias, it cannot be applied to the whole population or everyone.
Apparently, the media and some amateurs decide to fool the general population and most of the time they succeed in doing so. Statistics can dramatically alter personal ideas and create mass amounts of bias.
I decided to make this thread and spread the message: Not all experiments or studies are trustworthy, DO NOT BELIEVE IN THEM UNLESS BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND THE METHODOLOGY ARE GIVEN. These are natural rules of statistics that everyone should know about; take a statistics class if you want to know more. I have so much to say, but not everyone will understand the technical information.


"""""Logic"""" people


[edit on 2/1/2008 by die_another_day]


reply posted on 2-2-2008 @ 12:14 AM by hotpinkurinalmint
It is not necessarily that the statistics lie, but framing can influence the statistics. In the examples of surveys, the way a question is framed can skew results. For example if I asked a large group of people, "Do you believes some higher power controls the universe?" a large number of people may respond yes. If I asked "Do you believe in God?" a smaller, yet substantial number of people will respond yes. If I asked, "Do you believe in Jesus Christ, lord and savior, who will come to Earth any minute and judge all of mankind and cast the heathen sinners who voted for Hillary Clinton into Hell?" a small number of people will respond yes.

Once the statistics are gathered, the way the results are framed can skey how people perceive the results. Let us suppose a surveyer asked a large group of people, "Do you believe in Jesus Christ, lord and savior, who will come to Earth any minude and judge all of mankind and cast the heathen sinners who voted for Hillary Clinton into hell?" and came up with a very small percenage of yes respondants. Someone could frame that result as meaning a very small percentage of people are Christians, or a very small percentage of people believe in God, or a very small number of people believe a higher power runs the universe. Conversely if the surveyor asked people "Do you believe a higher power controls the universe?" and a large per centage of people respond yes, people could frame the results in all sorts of ways ranging from many people are agnostic to many people believe Jesus is coming to Earth to thrown all of Hilary Clinton's supportersa into hell.



reply posted on 3-2-2008 @ 01:09 PM by bigfatfurrytexan
reply to post by Valhall



That is not true. It is more of a "let the buyer beware" scenario than that.

I use statistical analysis to determine call arrival trending, and performance trending. Without it, i would be left guessing where my performance is heading, and my decisions would amount to frantic stabbing in the dark and hoping that i will blindly stumble into the right direction.

Any knowledge can be misused.
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