Misleading Statistics

868 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The role of statistics in our daily life

On BBC or CNN, they commonly use graphs or charts to go along with news presenters to facilitate viewers’ understanding. Those graphs and charts including news and information are called statistics. In other words, according to John Slaght, Paddy Harben and Anne Pallant, authors of English for Academic Study, Reading and Writing Source book, statistics refers to “ collections of data gathered” by research methods ( Slaght, Harben & Pallent, 2010, 29). Statistics could be used to prove any topic, to summarize, or to predict what is likely to happen. More important thing is interpretation. It should be made very careful, for it may mislead. Bias sources, inappropriate research methodology, and a specific particular group of audience can cause such misleading. Yet, there are some statistics that can be reliable, for instance, statistics in the fields of social science and law. However, this essay will argue that statistics are more likely to tell lies rather than facts.

To start with, statistics are reliable when they are from social studies and legal document. Namely, survey on numbers of primary school students from 2000 to 2009, a benchmark study on production department of a garment factory, or annual reports of population growth rate, all have to be most accurate because their results are particular and significant contributions to meet national development goals, to fulfill clients’ expectation as well as to make better business process, and to foresee the future economic demand when the increase comes true respectively. Thus, it should be more believable when we read data from social science.

In addition to social science, legal statistics are also recognized as dependable references due to obligation. Just as judging ...

... middle of paper ...

...n, (2010). Survey of Cambodian Public Opinion [online]. Phnom Penh, Cambodia, International Republican Institute. Available from: http://www.iri.org/sites/default/files/2011%20January%2020%20Survey%20of%20Cambodian%20Public%20Opinion,%20July%2012-August%206,%202010%20--%20Khmer%20and%20English%20version.pdf [Accessed 08 February 2011].

Author unknown, (2009). Poverty Profile and Trends in Cambodia: Findings from the 2007 Cambodia Socio-Economic Survey (CSES) [online]. East Asia and Pacific Region, Work Bank. Available from: http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2009/08/09/000333038_20090809234032/Rendered/PDF/486180WP0P11191ofile120071withCover.pdf [Accessed 8 February 2011].

Slaght, J., Harben, P. & Pallant, A., (2010). English for academic study: Reading &Writing Source Book: What is statistics?. Garnet Publishing Ltd.: UK.

Show More
Related

  • The Holocaust and the Cambodian Genocide: Similar or different? How about Both?

    888 Words  | 2 Pages

    Walker, Luke. "Cambodian Genocide." World Without Genocide. William Mitchell College of Law, 2012. Web. 15 Apr. 2014. .

    Read More

  • Summary Of Damned Lies And Statistics

    1476 Words  | 3 Pages

    The final chapter of this book encourages people to be critical when taking in statistics. Someone taking a critical approach to statistics tries assessing statistics by asking questions and researching the origins of a statistic when that information is not provided. The book ends by encouraging readers to know the limitations of statistics and understand how statistics are

    Read More

  • Ethnography on Cambodian Americans

    902 Words  | 2 Pages

    Taxonomy, I will explore the dynamics of the Cambodian American culture. Through Identity, Hierarchy, Gender, Truth and Virtue I will attempt to describe a culture previously virtually unknown to me. I chose Hofstede’s Taxonomy over Bond’s because Michael Bond himself told me to. “Charlotte, I did this work in the 1980's, and found that 3 of my 4 nation-level dimensions overlapped with Hofstede's and one was distinct.” said Bond to me when I asked him to elaborate on his taxonomy.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Freakonomics By Steven D. Dubner

    1072 Words  | 3 Pages

    Even if a researcher has mountains of data, unless he carefully scrutinizes and questions all information, digging up potential lurking variables and possible bias, he can be confounded. If a reader can glean any lesson from Freakonomics, it is this—always look at every piece of evidence as closely as possible. Stare at it until eyes begin to bleed. Yank up confounders by their roots. Take the time necessary to make sure conclusions are draw correctly. Levitt spent hours researching his questions. Sometimes he failed, as with the abortions. Sometimes he triumphed, as with the

    Read More

  • Crime is a contested and complex concept. Discuss

    820 Words  | 2 Pages

    Weatherburn, D. (2011) ‘Uses and abuses of crime statistics’, Contemporary Issues in Crime and Justice, 153: 1-16

    Read More

  • Weber Vs Durkheim Essay

    430 Words  | 1 Pages

    Furthermore, Weber and Durkheim both agree on the use of statistics, however, the interpretation of those statistics is entirely different. Weber argues that, “Statistical uniformities constitute understandable types of action, and thus constitute sociological generalizations, only when they can be regarded as manifestations of the understandable subjective meaning of a course of social action.” (Weber, Basic Sociological Terms, 3). Weber sees statistical data as deriving from individual actions that are grouped together. These groups can form generalizations, which then transform into ideal types that can be compared and used to understand subjective meaningful actions that occurred within those statistics. Durkheim, as seen in ‘Suicide’, uses statistics to analyze social facts (Durkheim, Suicide,

    Read More

  • The Cambodian Genocide

    985 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Cambodian Genocide has the historical context of the Vietnam War and the country’s own civil war. During the Vietnam War, leading up to the conflicts that would contribute to the genocide, Cambodia was used as a U.S. battleground for the Vietnam War. Cambodia would become a battle ground for American troops fighting in Vietnam for four years; the war would kill up to 750,00 Cambodians through U.S. efforts to destroy suspected North Vietnamese supply lines. This devastation would take its toll on the Cambodian peoples’ morale and would later help to contribute that conflicts that caused the Cambodian genocide. In the 1970’s the Khmer rouge guerilla movement would form. The leader of the Khmer rouge, Pol Pot was educated in France and believed in Maoist Communism. These communist ideas would become important foundations for the ideas of the genocide, and which groups would be persecuted. The genocide it’s self, would be based on Pol Pot’s ideas to bring Cambodia back to an agrarian society, starting at the year zero. His main goal was to achieve this, romanticized idea of old Cambodia, based on the ancient Cambodian ruins, with all citizens having agrarian farming lives, and being equal to each other. Due to him wanting society to be equal, and agrarian based, the victims would be those that were educated, intellectuals, professionals, and minority ethnic g...

    Read More

  • Kristof's Signature Style

    1277 Words  | 3 Pages

    In his columns, Kristof appeals to his audience’s logic through quantitative data. For example, in a column on human trafficking Kristof says, “A U.N. agency estimates that more than 12 million people are engaged in forced labor, including sexual servitude.” (“Fighting Back”). Kristof perplexes his audience with this statistic because the large number of people forced into labor indistinguishable from slavery. This statistic illustrates the immensity of the problem worldwide, putting the concern into perspective for Kristof’s audience. He also utilizes quantitative data when he says, “By my calculations, at least 10 times as many girls are now trafficked into brothels annually as African slaves were transported to the New World in the peak years of transatlantic slave trade.” (“The Face of Modern Slavery”). Since Kristof includes his own research here, it establishes his credibility as he has thoroughly researched this topic. He makes a historical reference as well when he compares this new form of slavery to the older form. Including that in his column convinces his audience of the enormity of the human trafficking...

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Mommy Wars

    704 Words  | 2 Pages

    In academic fields, “many” means an unknown quantity and will mislead the readers into the author’s personal perspectives. In Story’s article, readers can find “many” not only in personal statements but also in the statistical data. Therefore, readers will be unconsciously influenced and agree that the best choice for mothers is staying at home if Shafer doesn’t point the issue. What’s more, Shafer also accuses Story spend a lot to her daughter to Yale University. Accordingly, the purpose of the article is suspect. Even if there will be more professors’ statements and database without the exact number, readers cannot tend to one

    Read More

  • Exploring Inferential Statistics and Their Discontents

    2108 Words  | 5 Pages

    Inferential statistics establish the methods for the analyses used for conclusions drawing conclusions beyond the immediate data alone concerning an experiment or study for a population built on general conditions or data collected from a sample (Jackson, 2012; Trochim & Donnelly, 2008). With inferential statistics, you are trying to reach conclusions that extend beyond the immediate data alone. For instance, we use inferential statistics to try to infer from the sample data what the population might think. A requisite for developing inferential statistics supports general linear models for sampling distribution of the outcome statistic; researchers use the related inferential statistics to determine confidence (Hopkins, Marshall, Batterham, & Hanin, 2009).

    Read More

  • Vindicating the Suffering Revolutionary Women in Mary Wollstonecraft’s Maria

    1976 Words  | 4 Pages

    Law and Literature, Vol. 16, No. 1 (Spring, 2004), pp. 33-63. JSTOR. 2 November 2008.

    Read More

  • Abortion Essay

    714 Words  | 2 Pages

    ...atistics that was established plays on the emotion of the audience as they feel sympathy for the large amount of women that had died because of their first pregnancy. Furthermore statistics also increases the credibility of the article in two ways. Firstly, using statistics establishes that extensive research has been done making the audience believe that the stats provided are factual and reliable. Secondly, using statistics from reliable sources such as World Health Organization rises the credibility of the article. The article that I have chosen is credible because the author John Flynn used statistic from different sources as well as quotes from experts to back up his statement, and also most importantly statistics sticks with the audience even after reading the article. Hence statistics are one important factor that makes an article credible and reliable.

    Read More

  • Statistical Reasoning in Everyday Life

    483 Words  | 1 Pages

    This chapter taught me the importance of understanding statistical data and how to evaluate it with common sense. Almost everyday we are subjected to statistical data in newspapers and on TV. My usual reaction was to accept those statistics as being valid. Which I think is a fair assessment for most people. However, reading this chapter opens my eyes to the fact that statistical data can be very misleading. It shows how data can be skewed to support a certain group’s agenda. Although most statistical data presented may not seem to affect us personally in our daily lives, it can however have an impact. For example, statistics can influence the way people vote on certain issues.

    Read More

  • Essay On Quantitative Methods

    1237 Words  | 3 Pages

    Quantitative methods in the social sciences are an effective tool for understanding patterns and variation in social data. They are the systematic, numeric collection and objective analysis of data that can be generalized to a larger population and seek to find cause in variance (Matthews and Ross 2010, p.141; Henn et al. 2009, p.134). These methods are often debated, but quantitative measurement is important to the social sciences because of the numeric evidence that can be used to drive more in depth qualitative research and to focus regional policy, to name a few (Johnston et al. 2014). Basic quantitative methods, such as descriptive and inferential statistics, are used regularly to identify and explain large social trends that can then

    Read More

  • The Importance of Statistics

    972 Words  | 2 Pages

    Whether or not people notice the importance of statistics, people is using them in their everyday life. Statistics have been more and more important for different cohorts of people from a farmer to an academician and a politician. For example, Cambodian famers produce an average of three tons or rice per hectare, about eighty per cent of Cambodian population is a farmer, at least two million people support party A, and so on. According to the University of Melbourne, statistics are about to make conclusive estimates about the present or to predict the future (The University of Melbourne, 2009). Because of their significance, statistics are used for different purposes. Statistics are not always trustable, yet they depend on their reliable factors such as sample, data collection methods and sources of data. This essay will discuss how people can use statistics to present facts or to delude others. Then, it will discuss some of the criteria for a reliable statistic interpretation.

    Read More

More about Misleading Statistics

Open Document