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Discussion: Statistics Are LIES!
Member Since: 12/10/2011
Posts: 12,699
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5 Ways Statistics Are Used to Lie to You Every Day
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#5. What We Call "Average" Actually Isn't.
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Here's a shocking statistic: The average income in the United States is around $70,000. If your income is below that level, reading that is quite a kick. You thought you were actually doing pretty well for yourself, but now you're tempted to get a second job just to bump your net worth up to what the asshole next door is probably making. What's their secret, damn it? Are they all cooking meth?
The Problem Is ...
The popular use of the term "average" is way different from the mathematical term, but they get used interchangeably. That's why we're so often shocked at how the "average" person is richer/fatter/taller than us. In everyday language, we use the word "average" to mean "most people," or the most representative person (as in, "The average person doesn't read classic literature" or "The average Joe can't afford to dress like Prince"). But then when they start using the word "average" to talk about statistics, you get weird results, like the fact that 67 percent of people in the USA make less than the "average" income. So how the **** can "average" mean "most people" when most people aren't average?
Well, we all learned in school how to calculate an average: You take all the values you're averaging, add them up, and divide them by the number of values. This is fine if what you're trying to average is pretty uniform -- the average of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 is 3, right there in the middle. The problem is that averages are absolutely useless if a minority of numbers are unusually high -- the average of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 40 is 10, which doesn't help anybody know **** about anything.
And that's the problem with the "average income" statistic -- a few rich people are skewing the **** out of the number. If you're earning less than the average income, it's not because your job is screwing you, it's because you live in the same country as Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and whoever owns Coke. Mr. Coke or whoever.
Why Does It Matter?
This is so stupidly obvious when explained, but it creates more myths by the day. For instance, you can see one study showing that for every 100 Americans, there are 88 guns, which could lead someone to reasonably assume that it's hard to find an American who isn't packing heat. Then you see another study from the same year showing that only 43 percent of households have guns in them. It's the same deal -- the people who have tons of guns skew the average upward ... and in the process make it hard as hell to get an idea of the overall picture. More often than not, telling us the average just muddles the issue.
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#4. A Claim of "99 Percent Accurate" Can Be Both True and Meaningless.
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You're sitting on the bed in the doctor's office, and he's got bad news. You've tested positive for some kind of cancer. You say, "Are you sure, doc?" and he goes on to inform you that the particular test they used is 99 percent accurate at detecting cancer when it's there, and it produces a false positive only 1 percent of the time in healthy people.
Holy ****, you're 99 percent doomed! Strap on your parachute and buy a monkey, it's time to start on that bucket list!
The Problem Is..
Read the complete write up at the source.
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#3. Claiming to Be the "Fastest Growing" Group/Company/Etc. Might Not Be All That Impressive.
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We recently mentioned a viral video that went around talking about how everyone should be afraid of the looming Muslim threat. Islam is, after all, "the fastest-growing religion in the world." Run!
Some respected and reputable sources have carried this headline, and conservative commentators cite it as evidence that Western nations are soon going to have to cloak our women and bow down to Mecca unless we wise up and start simultaneously banging Christian women and being mean to Muslims.
The Problem Is...
Read the complete write up at the source.
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#2. What They're Calling an "Epidemic" May Actually Be Random Chance.
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Studies show that people who live near power lines have a higher rate of cancer and other diseases! That means electricity is quietly killing you from within! It's a good thing that right this minute, your face isn't near any glowing devices that run on electricity ...
The Problem Is...
Read the complete write up at the source.
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#1. Correlation Does Not Equal Causation.
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The media love to report on the latest scientific study that tells us what's going to kill us today. According to this report on a study about the effects of television on health, scientists are stunned to discover that watching TV is as bad for you as smoking cigarettes after finding that every half hour of TV you watch after the age of 25 shaves a whopping 11 minutes off your life. But how can we possibly cut down when there are six whole shows about baking cakes?
Or, you may have run across someone who still believes that vaccines cause autism in children -- they may even have incredibly convincing line graphs showing that, yes, as the rate of vaccination has gone up, so has the rate of autism diagnosis. How can you argue against graphs?
The Problem Is...
Read the complete write up at the source.
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Member Since: 3/15/2010
Posts: 2,041
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Finally, A POST WORTH READING.
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Member Since: 5/18/2011
Posts: 17,136
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They aren't lies. They are simply misleading for people who look at them at face value. For a person who took statistics, I learned to look beyond the numbers at the size of the sample, where the sample was taken, possible outliers that may misconstrue the numbers, etc. It doesn't necessarily mean they are false.
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 11,808
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Member Since: 11/13/2009
Posts: 25,902
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Member Since: 12/10/2011
Posts: 12,699
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Quote:
Originally posted by KB.
They aren't lies. They are simply misleading for people who look at them at face value. For a person who took statistics, I learned to look beyond the numbers at the size of the sample, where the sample was taken, possible outliers that may misconstrue the numbers, etc. It doesn't necessarily mean they are false.
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Yes, I know. I used to be one of those people who would hear statistics and truly, utterly believe them. Except for those, "most likely to" messes. 
Then I got educated 
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Member Since: 5/18/2011
Posts: 17,136
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Just like this thread.
I mean it's still frightening, but 41 people dying out of 1000 people being stung is a measly 4.1% which makes dying an unusual occurrence.
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Member Since: 6/6/2012
Posts: 25,442
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43 percent of households have guns in them
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America 
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Member Since: 8/31/2013
Posts: 267
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Quote:
Originally posted by KB.
They aren't lies. They are simply misleading for people who look at them at face value. For a person who took statistics, I learned to look beyond the numbers at the size of the sample, where the sample was taken, possible outliers that may misconstrue the numbers, etc. It doesn't necessarily mean they are false.
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I agree with this.
Interpreting and understanding statistics is a lot easier when you know what's going on and how they came to their conclusions. }: )
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