Does anyone understand statistics anymore?

[NorthNone]

Officials say Missouri has one of the highest smoking rates in the nation, higher even than the national average."

http://www.ksdk.com/news/health/health_article.aspx?storyid=97805

Who would have thought?


"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved." - Helen Keller

 

[columb]

The British tabloid press are often keen to leap on studies that show that half Britain's school children are below the national average for insert skill such as reading or maths here and, worse still, one quarter are seriously below, and use these studies as part of an 'it's all going wrong' doom mongering. They too don't understand the meaning of the word 'average', let alone what a bell curve is.

But then we techies know that half the population is below average intelligence, and they're our users!

Ceci n'est pas une signature
Columb Healy

 

[sbudzynski]

On a personal note, took business statistics last year and absolutely hated it!

Not as much as economics though!

----------

Steve Budzynski


"So, pass another round around for the kids. Who have nothing left to lose and for those souls old and sold out by the soles of my shoes"

 

[edfair]

To seriously mangle Columb's premise:
"As a techie I understand that 90% of the population is below average intelligence."


Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[Trevoke]

The first 90% of a project will take you exactly as long as you planned for it.
The other 90% of the project will take you much longer.

"That time in Seattle... was a nightmare. I came out of it dead broke, without a house, without anything except a girlfriend and a knowledge of UNIX."
"Well, that's something," Avi says. "Normally those two are mutually exclusive."
-- Neal Stephenson, "Cryptonomicon"

 

[RegistrationMark]

Did you know that 75.6% of all statistics are made up on the spot?
Mark

 

[Dollie]

I don't believe statistics anymore. Anyone can sway statistics to state exactly what they want them to say.

If I wanted to do a survey on how many people think I'm A Great Person, I'm not going to include the ex-husbands in the survey, and only ask people that I'm currently on good terms with. That way, I can positively state that 95% of all people think I'm A Great Person.

 

[NorthNone]

Mark, a recent poll revealed that 37.2% of people were 86.4% sure your statement is true

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved." - Helen Keller

 

[sbudzynski]

Speaking of which, you hear the commerical from a known wireless phone provider that says "Fewest dropped calls of any cell phone provider!"

Does that mean they have the fewest dropped calls maybe because they have far fewer customers then other cell phone providers?

Misleading? Could be...

----------

Steve Budzynski


"So, pass another round around for the kids. Who have nothing left to lose and for those souls old and sold out by the soles of my shoes"

 

[flapeyre]

There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.

Here is the Wikipedia article.


Feles mala! Cur cista non uteris? Stramentum novum in ea posui!

 

[Turkbear]

Hi,
Back in the day of cigarette advertising, one brand boasted:
"More doctors smoke <brandname> than any other cigarette"

Carefully parsed, that seems to mean more doctors smoke that brand than any other cigarette
smokes that brand...







To Paraphrase:"The Help you get is proportional to the Help you give.."

 

[SamBones]

Speaking of which, you hear the commerical from a known wireless phone provider that says "Fewest dropped calls of any cell phone provider!"

Does that mean they have the fewest dropped calls maybe because they have far fewer customers then other cell phone providers?

Misleading? Could be...

Yes, I think that's right. They picked one statistic that made them look good and brag about it. I've got a lot of friends who have left that carrier because they couldn't get service in their area, they couldn't make the call, it wouldn't go through, or if it did, the call quality was so bad you sometimes had to hang up and dial again.

But they didn't have a lot of dropped calls!

 

[flapeyre]

Speaking of which, you hear the commerical from a known wireless phone provider that says "Fewest dropped calls of any cell phone provider!"

Does that mean they have the fewest dropped calls maybe because they have far fewer customers then other cell phone providers?

Misleading? Could be...

I doubt it. The company in question (Cingular) is the largest provider in the USA (since they merged with AT&T Wireless).

Feles mala! Cur cista non uteris? Stramentum novum in ea posui!

 

[Dollie]

I always liked the "Four out of Five Dentists/Doctors/Paid Spokesmen would recommend our product" ads. There was a commercial making fun of that last year, I believe with a guy getting smacked in the face with a clipboard.

 

[stackdump]

Four out 10 people suffer with diarrohea

...does than mean the other 6 enjoy it?

 

[SilentAiche]

I, two, did a "sirvey" (using my sell phone, of course) and found that half of Dollie's three ex's thought she was indeed a Great Britain. The others just poured more scotch and said "Irish 'ed stop culling."

Accurate to within +/- 3.5 parentage points.

Statistically, it has not been proven that taking your own pole causes your palms to grow hair.

Tim



[blue]________________________________________________________
"To be rather than to seem" - Official Motto of the State of North Carolina[/blue]

 

[stubnski]

SilentAiche - LOL, what about going blind?

Stubnski

 

[SilentAiche]

Steve,

You can, but I don't see why you woody. Seems, er, senseless.

Ironically, sight often comes in handy.

Er, I said it was ironic.

Timmy Hoffa,
Onion Urganizer

[blue]________________________________________________________
"To be rather than to seem" - Official Motto of the State of North Carolina[/blue]

 

[SilentAiche]

Four out 10 people suffer with diarrohea

...does than mean the other 6 enjoy it?

Depends entirely on your stool sample.

Er, Bill

[blue]________________________________________________________
"To be rather than to seem" - Official Motto of the State of North Carolina[/blue]

 

[tsdragon]

I've often thought of starting a web site to comment on television advertising, and one of the areas I would concentrate on is their misuse and manipulation of so-called statistics.

Here's a common example:

"The lowest priced (highest rated, etc.) automobile in it's class."

What does "it's class" mean? How many other cars are actually IN it's class?

Tracy Dryden

Meddle not in the affairs of dragons,
For you are crunchy, and good with mustard.