Chapter 9 of 10All chapters
Chapter 9 of 10
How statistics mislead
Usually without lying.
Common tricks
Truncated axes, cherry-picked start dates, percentages of different bases, and averages hiding a bimodal split. None of these require a false number.
- Simpson's paradox: a trend in every subgroup can reverse when combined.
- Testing many things guarantees some will look significant by chance.
Questions to ask
Who was measured, how were they chosen, what was the sample size, what is the uncertainty, and what is being compared with what.