Introduction to

Statistics
RESEARCH 3
How is Statistics MISUSED?

 The problem of MISUSE can be summarized

by the use of Statistics not for finding out
what is ACTUALLY going on but instead use
it to misrepresent the data in order to
support a viewpoint or to deliberately
misrepresent in order to create a false
perception or false narrative.
How is Statistics MISUSED?

 DataMining – sifting through the data to

pick only the data that supports personal
opinion and to reject the data that
doesn’t.
 SelectiveSurvey Questions – use question
that can only be answered in a predictive
and supportive manner.
How is Statistics MISUSED?

 Unrelated Cause & Effect – ignoring other

(possibly more relevant) causes. Ex:
Effect of living near high voltage power
lines
 Choice
of Graph Type and Shape –
enhancing the desired appearance
How is Statistics MISUSED?

 Scaling
of Data – choice of scale can
misrepresent
 TimeScaling – not showing the whole
period
 DataSampling – choosing a sample that is
not representative of the whole
population
How is Statistics MISUSED?

 Geographical Location – picking data from

single location
 Usingtest subjects that are NOT neutral,
but are biased and give untruthful
answers
Statistics: Basic terms

 Population – the whole set of individuals or subjects to

be analyzed
 Sample – a representative subset of the population
 Data – the set of values of a variable for the whole
sample
 Experiment - a planned activity that will generate the
desired data
 Parameter – a numerical characteristic of an entire
population (ex. Average height)