Question

Week 10 DB: Misleading Statistics

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1. Where can you find misleading statistics?

2.Why do you believe misleading statistics are used in our everyday lives?

3. Find an example of a misleading statistic.Identify where you found it and provide us with either a link or a picture of it. Make sure to state what information from your example makes it misleading and how you were about to identify this.

4.Can you think of another way to illustrate or express this information that might make the authors purpose clearer?

Answer 1

(1) Misleading statistics is the misusage of numerical data that results in misleading information. Misleading statistics can be found being used by the media to make an issue seem less or more critical than in reality. Misleading statistics are used in advertising to make a certain product seem better than it actually is. Misleading statistics is sometimes used in science to back up claims in a wrong manner.

(2) Sometimes misleading statistics are a result of errors in computation. However, it is also intentional at times. In media and politics, misleading statistics are used to back up whatever claims the media or politicians make. Advertising often employs the use of misleading statistics in order to make the advertised product seem more appealing than it truly is. A scientific study may use misleading statistics to prove the claim wrongly.

(3) From https://www.datapine.com/blog/misleading-statistics-and-data/, we find the following example:

On Sept. 29, 2015, Republicans from the U.S. Congress questioned Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood, regarding the misappropriation of $500 million in annual federal funding. The following graph was presented:

Representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah said, “In pink, that’s the reduction in the breast exams, and the red is the increase in the abortions. That’s what’s going on in your organization.”

Now, the chart has no defined y-axis. This means that there is no justification for the placement of the visible measurement lines. This makes it misleading and wrongly conveys a shift in focus from cancer screenings to abortion.

(4) The above chart should be redrawn with a y-axis. A clearly visible scale will make it clear that while the number of cancer screenings has in fact decreased, it still far outnumbers the quantity of abortion procedures performed yearly. Thus, the information will be correctly conveyed and a correct interpretation can be made.