The Clog from OzDavid Letterman - Misleading Statistics
August 22nd 2006 04:13
“USA Today has come out with a new survey - apparently, three out of every four people make up 75% of the population.” – David Letterman
America’s favourite late night talk show host is having a go at misleading statistics. I’ve heard many of these supposed ‘statistical’ claims aimed to sway you one way or another.
For example, “50% of Australia’s population is below average” (duh!) and “Many people believe they are gifted” (many people could be 1000, but out of a population of 6 billion this means jack all). What about “Children with bigger feet spell better”? They spell better because they are older and have reached a higher school education. This is an example of confusing correlation with causation. My all time favourite is “Most females can’t drive”, but most can mean as little as 51% which is only half!
Be careful before you go ahead and be convinced by a dodgy statistic – read it carefully and think about what it can actually claim. If all else fails, just remember what Steven Wright once said – “47.3% of all statistics are made up on the spot."
You can check out some dodgy graphs at the Gallery of Data Visualisation
Image holds the GNU Free Documentation License
America’s favourite late night talk show host is having a go at misleading statistics. I’ve heard many of these supposed ‘statistical’ claims aimed to sway you one way or another.
Be careful before you go ahead and be convinced by a dodgy statistic – read it carefully and think about what it can actually claim. If all else fails, just remember what Steven Wright once said – “47.3% of all statistics are made up on the spot."
You can check out some dodgy graphs at the Gallery of Data Visualisation
Image holds the GNU Free Documentation License
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