Question

list five different abuse of statistics and give examples each.

Answer 1

There are 4 ways to abuse statistics:

1. Bad data collection: Example can be sampling the wrong population: In a study on whether a gene causes homosexuality, one research group studied 25 homosexuals to see if they had a particular gene. They didn't study anyone who was not homosexual, so they had compared their results with nothing.
2. Bad application of statistical functions: One example can be the using the population standard deviation instead of the sample one: This is probably the most often repeated mistake because the sample standard deviation is much harder to calculate. This changes the margin of error. Another example can be using the wrong error calculating function: The error function must be carefully chosen to match the parameter or statistic used.
3. Forming the wrong conclusion: One example of this is forgetting to compare the experimental value to the control value: In the homosexual-genetics study conducted, they obtained a result that "26 percent" of the homosexuals tested had the gene. Without comparing their result to a control group, they "concluded" that the gene causes homosexuality
4. Sneaky tricks to mislead the unwary: One example of this is appealing to emotion instead of logic: This is repeatedly used by environmentalists who have no scientific basis for the product bans they demand. This method is also a favorite of those claiming that aliens are abducting people. Another similar example to this is using scare tactics: This is similar to appealing to emotions. They present a humungous, terrifying scenario of what might happen if they don't work their way. But they have no proof of any of it, so they want to scare you into believing it. The anti-nuclear crowd uses this trick heavily, as do other environmentalists. And the entire global warming argument is made up of these scares.