Challenges Of Statistical Interpretation
Darrell Huff shares a family anecdote and describes his experience gathering examples of statistical misuse: His father in law’s impression of crime: After moving from Iowa to California, his father in law concluded t...
Darrell Huff shares a family anecdote and describes his experience gathering examples of statistical misuse: His father in law’s impression of crime: After moving from Iowa to California, his father in law concluded that there was much more crime because the newspaper reported so much of it. Huff explains that this was a biased sample : the amount of newspaper space devoted to crime is not a reliable measure of the actual crime rate. ==The lesson is to question whether what you see fairly represents what you are trying to measure.== [:cite[1]{ln=95}][:cite[1]{ln=96}] Collecting examples for the book: Huff describes gathering instances of statistical “fumbling and chicanery,” including examples sent by professional statisticians after an appeal through the American Statistical Association. His pointed observation is that even people who understand statistics can misuse them—a reminder to examine how numbers are selected and presented, rather than trusting expertise alone. [:cite[1]{ln=95}]