How to Lie With Statistics Book Review

He author also uses statistics to inform the readers with facts. For example he says, “If you’re like the typical owner, you’ll be pulling your phone out 80 times a day.” He uses statistics to inform and persuade the the

Statistics provides us with very useful tools and techniques that aide us in dealing with real world scenarios. I have been able to learn several useful concepts by studying statistics that can aide me in making rational and informed decisions that are supported by the analysis results. Statistics as a discipline is the application and development of various processes put in place to gather, interpret, and analyse the information. The quantification of biological, social, and scientific phenomenons, design and analysis of experiments and surveys, and application of

In the video "How Statistics Fool Juries," Oxford mathematician Peter Donnelly attempts to demonstrate through a number of examples how statistics, when viewed in a common manner, can be misunderstood and how this can have legal repercussions. Through a number of thought experiments, Donnelly provides the audience with examples of how seemingly simple statistics can be misinterpreted and how many more variables must be taken into account when calculating chance. Primarily he exposes the audience to the concept of relative difference, or the difference in likelihood between two possibilities in the same scenario. He then goes on to explain that without an understanding of this concept, many juries misunderstand statistics used in trials and very often convict people based on this faulty understanding.

• Provide at least two examples or problem situations in which statistics was used or could be used.

In Stephen Gould's article The Median Isn't the Message, there is an excellent story that displays the power that statistics can play in shaping how we think and our attitude towards certain subjects. When Gould was diagnosed with mesothelioma in 1982, he decided to research the life expectancy and was shock that it was only 8 months. Upon looking further he found that under his circumstances, he could fall under the curve much farther out, meaning a longer life expectancy.

Author Lee Ventola used statistical data to provide evidence to prove his opinion about childhood vaccinations in almost every paragraph of his academic journal. One example being, “It has been estimated

3. According to the authors, what are the “three simple steps to doing Statistics right?” 4. What

In Stephanie Ericsson’s essay, “The Ways We Lie”, she describes the many ways we create miscommunication individually and as a community. Lies that affect us individually are lies we commit between ourselves and a small group, like, “your hair looks great” to a friend, knowing you meant the opposite. Meanwhile, lies that affects society is on a more severe consequence scale – Adolf Hitler, world famous anarchist, persuaded his soldiers into believing obliterating the life of massive amount of Jewish believers had a good cause, when it actually disrupted society itself. Her main topic is how we are consumed by lies and deceptions abused by oneself and society. She categorizes each lie which she later elaborates the different consequences they

Statistics, facts, data, and comparisons are absorbing and challenging to present in a way that is anything other than, well, boring. For purposes of an informational presentation, the statistics are unavoidable. However, in this

the audience, and it is hard to put it to perspective. Therefore, a statistic is appealing to the

The article does well provide details to support main point of the author argument. In fact, the usage of statistics and other people stories may reinforced the credibility of this article. Furthermore, because of the usage of clear language and key terms that were fine defined aids the readers in understanding the message of the text. The only downfall of the article is some of statistics is not well supported with evidence or a guidelines guiding us back the origins of these statistics, although the paper is not flawless, the overall strong point of it defeats it

In his 2013 book, Naked Statistics, Charles Wheelan explains a field that is commonly seen, commonly applied, and commonly misinterpreted: statistics. Though statistical data is ubiquitous in daily life, valid statistical conclusions are not. Wheelan reveals that when data analysis is flawed or incomplete, faulty conclusions abound. Wheelan’s work uncovers statistics’ unscrupulous potential, but also makes a key distinction between deliberate misuse and careless misreading. However, his analysis is less successful in distinguishing common sense from poor judgement, a gap that enables the very statistical issues he describes to perpetuate themselves.

Statistics is a mathematical science pertaining to the collection, analysis, interpretation or explanation, and presentation of data. It is applicable to a wide variety of academic disciplines, from the physical and social sciences to the humanities. Statistics are also used for making informed decisions – and misused for other reasons – in all areas of business and government. Statistical methods can be used to summarize or describe a collection of data; this is called descriptive statistics. In addition, patterns in the data may be modeled in a way that accounts for randomness and uncertainty in the observations, and then used to draw inferences about the process or population being studied; this is called inferential statistics. Both

In How to Lie with Statistics (Huff, 1954), Darrel Huff deciphers statistical examples and explains the means of deception that statistics and statisticians sometimes use to relay false information. Huff also conveys an underlying message of don’t believe everything you’re told, something him and my mother have in common. At first glance, a reader might think that this book will teach people how to actually lie using statistics, but that is not the case. It gives the reader a glimpse or a behind the curtain view of how easily it is to be deceived using numbers and how it is slyly achieved. Ironically he calls the book How to Lie with Statistics almost to tease his audience that the content in this book is not as it appears. To my utmost surprise, I actually rather enjoyed this book. It was a fairly simple read that was filled with new information and showed me how to look closer at statistical figures in the future. The humor was spot on so much, so that I even chuckled aloud occasionally. For the icing on the cake, I even expanded my vocabulary to learn fun words such as rotogravure.

So while I never want to take a statistics course, and while statistics scientifically involves so many numbers and mathematical principles, I am now interested in seeing how statistics is different from what everyone has said. It is wonderful to think that everyone can be connected through these