What I think:
Statistics can lead to false information. People might believe in them because its what other people are saying. They could be unfair, or could not. Statistics are information that people put down to show you information which can be misleading.
After reading:
We are likely only to know about a few personal cases, and not overall. Individual cases can be biased. Statistics can give us a better understanding than individual ones.
Statistics also have negatives. Faulty statistics, bad sampling, unfair poll questions, statistics that are true but misleading, ranking statistics, and qualifiers on statistics.
We should be careful when looking at them. They can be good, but at the same time, misleading.
FAULTY STATISTICS
“86% of statistics are made up on the spot, you know – the remaining 24% are mathematically flawed. – From an internet message board.”
If we put exact numbers in stuff people would believe it more then just ‘most’ or something.
BAD SAMPLING
Just because you ask a few people on things doesn’t mean everyone thinks the same. Also it depends who you ask, where your asking it, and if they get to choose to respond or not.
UNFAIR POLL QUESTIONS
Sometimes the questions are worded to get a specific answer out of you.
STATISTICS THAT ARE TRUE BUT MISLEADING
The statistics can be true but they can pick which numbers from there to show you. They can pick the start and end points and make it seem like however they want.
RANKING STATISTICS
Its not really clear what category it can be in. Another is it doesn’t tell us much about the actual amount.
QUALIFIERS ON STATISTICS
How you describe something might not seem important but really is.
PERCENTAGES
It depends on the total amount. Sometimes they might give a % to make it seem more, or sometimes they would rather say the actual number.