
	Where results make sense

Topic: Misuse of statistics

In the News (Sat 22 Nov 08)

Lee Scott

Annika Sorenstam

Norm Coleman

Benji Madden

Freddie Mac

Puerto Rico

Vladimir Putin

Treasury Department

Mitt Romney

Giovanni Trapattoni

	Misuse of statistics - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Statistics are useful for governments planning for large numbers.
		In order to understand the use and interpretation of statistics, it is essential that this lesson is thoroughly learnt and internalised, to the extent that it becomes instinctual.
		Statistics are indicators, not definitive guides, and should never be used as a substitute for individual assessment.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Misuse_of_statistics (539 words)

	stats
		After several years of observations of both groups of patients, a statistical analysis of the results leads the researchers to the conclusion, whether the medication was effective and whether it should be recommended for general use.
		The degree of statistical significance increases dramatically with growth of the difference between p1 and p2 : when this difference is just 2%, the confidence interval becomes greater, than 99.8%; the difference of 2.5% guarantees the confidence interval of greater than 99.99%.
		One thing is to establish some statistical correlation between the amount of cholesterol and the number of endpoints, and it is a totally different issue to establish a causal relationship between them.
	www.geocities.com /benny_patrick/stats.html (6603 words)

	United Nations Statistics Division- Development of National Statistical Systems
		To this end, official statistics that meet the test of practical utility are to be compiled and made available on an impartial basis by official statistical agencies to honor citizens' entitlement to public information.
		To retain trust in official statistics, the statistical agencies need to decide according to strictly professional considerations, including scientific principles and professional ethics, on the methods and procedures for the collection, processing, storage and presentation of statistical data.
		Statistical agencies are to choose the source with regard to quality, timeliness, costs and the burden on respondents.
	unstats.un.org /unsd/methods/statorg/FP-English.htm (483 words)

	The Problems with Statistics
		Statistics are based on studies: a search for possible connections between disparate facts that nonetheless have a connection.
		Their statistics led them to the conclusion that the polluted waters of the Thames River was the source, and there was a particular pump that supplied the water to certain neigh borhoods that was a prime source of infection.
		Statistics on the incidence of rape in the US vary wildly depending on whether the study asks law enforcement or r ape counseling centers (one set is based on the number of reported rapes, the other on the number of women needing counseling whether or not they reported the rape to law enforcement).
	www.wsu.edu:8080 /~taflinge/evistats.html (3942 words)

	DOLHENTY ARCHIVE: Statistics - Page 8
		We must be aware constantly of the possible misuse of statistics in the heat of social and political debate.
		It has to be stressed that a statistical study yields generalizations which apply to the group as a whole rather than to the individual cases which compose the population.
		Since statistical results to be meaningful must related to "mass" data, it is dangerous to pass from only a few cases to a generalization concerning variations.
	radicalacademy.com /statistics8.htm (1164 words)

	'intelligence': misuse and abuse of statistics - abelard
		Intelligence: misuse and abuse of statistics is one in a series of documents showing how to apply empiric reasoning to social and psychological problems.
		Statistical reasoning is among the most complex and difficult constructions of the human mind.
		These genetic versus environmental ‘studies’ are inherently statistical by their structure, they are average guesses or generalisations and, therefore, do not apply to any particular individual.
	www.abelard.org /statistics.htm (10766 words)

	Drug Misuse Statistics Scotland
		Problematic drug misuse is occurring in both urban and rural areas, although the prevalence in rural areas is clearly lower.
		In some 46 per cent of all general acute admissions for drug misuse, opioids are specifically identified, but the true figure is likely to be even higher as some of the patients recorded as using ‘multiple/other psychoactive substances’; may use opioids.
		Of the 1 257 cases where a main diagnosis of drug misuse was recorded, just over half (51 per cent) of the patients were in their twenties.
	www.drugmisuse.isdscotland.org /publications/01bull/01brief1.htm (713 words)

	Annotated Statistics Bibliography - Betty C. Jung (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
		Every statistic must be created, and the process of creation always involves choices that affect the resulting number and therefore affect the resulting number and therefore affect what we understand after the figures summarize and simplify the problem." (p.
		Here is a wonderfully readable book about social statistics and how such statistics are used by those not necessarily well-versed in their proper use, but opportunistically mine the numbers, to the detriment of the public's fascination and fear of numbers.
		This has lead to a public mistrust of statistics, which, in a way, is a good thing, but unfortunately undermines what statistics can really do, and that is to provide a barometer of how things are going, and a tool for assessing the progress being made to addressing a social problem.
	www.bettycjung.net /Stats.htm (4410 words)

	MAT1010 Text
		Statistics is an integral part of communication and media in our society, yet many students are not equipped to accurately create or interpret basic statistical information through numbers or graphs.
		This chapter focuses on the meanings of common statistical measures, the creation of basic statistical graphs, and the informed evaluation of the use and misuse of statistics in everyday applications.
		Buyer beware statistics is a useful and captivating concept to most students, and something from which they can quickly draw personal application.
	www.mathsci.appstate.edu /1010/stat/teacher.html (676 words)

	Statistics Concepts and Controversies
		The author's stated purpose for this text is to present statistics to nonmathematical readers as an aid to clear thinking in personal and professional life.
		Many of the author's examples deal with the use and misuse of statistics in advertising and in political rhetoric.
		The basic topic outline is: (a) collecting data, including sampling, experiment design, and measurement, (b) organizing data, including tables, graphs, and descriptive statistics, and (c) drawing conclusions from data, which include the study of randomness and a discussion of formal statistical reasoning.
	www.project2061.org /publications/rsl/online/tradebks/REVS/STATISTI.HTM (501 words)

	Spy Blog: Computer Misuse Act statistics - still rarer than murder , apparently (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
		The actual number of convictions a year for Computer Misuse is even less than this, although the conviction rate once proceedings are actually brought is realtively high.
		Statistics on court proceedings for 2003 will be published on the 18 November.
		Incredibly, they are proposing to strengthen the penalties under the Computer Misuse Act, but only for tampering with the ill defined concept of a National Identity Register computer system, which is presumably more important to them than, say, critical national infrastructure computer systems or safety critical sysems e.g.
	www.spy.org.uk /spyblog/2004/11/computer_misuse_act_statistics.html (464 words)

	Statistics Information Portal @ Chanced.org (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
		Statistics is the science and practice of developing human knowledge through the use of empirical data.
		It is based on statistical theory which is a branch of applied mathematics.
		Statistical thinking will one day be as necessary for efficient citizenship as the ability to read or write.
	www.chanced.org (2194 words)

	[No title]
		Statistics play a large role in research, yet it is important to consider many factors which allow researchers to make the conclusions that they do.
		We shall provide you with the tools necessary to critically analyze statistics and demonstrate how statistics may be misleading.
		Another large problem with such tables are that statisticians or those conducting the research often round numbers off, and for the sake of simplicity of frequency tables, they often round to the nearest hundred or even thousand, thus creating problems of interpretation.
	www.faculty.umb.edu /peter_taylor/misuse.html (1496 words)

	Misuse of Statistics: How Statistics has and can be misused
		Statistics does usually have a very powerful impact and more often than not, can create an impression on our minds of certain things.
		However, sometimes these so-called statistical calculations and discoveries need to be taken with a pinch of salt.
		Jumping to startling conclusions can be amusing and may even interest people but they wouldn't be fulfilling the very purpose of statistics and statistical findings.
	www.statisticalforecasting.com /misuse-of-statistics.php (239 words)

	Practical Statistics for Medical Research
		Discusses the use and misuse of statistics, enabling readers to judge the appropriateness of methods and interpretations published in medical journals
		Furthermore, many introductory texts fall short of adequately explaining the underlying concepts of statistics, and often are divorced from the reality of conducting and assessing medical research.
		Practical Statistics for Medical Research is a problem-based text for medical researchers, medical students, and others in the medical arena who need to use statistics but have no specialized mathematics background.
	www.ramex.com /title.asp?id=3707 (483 words)

	Misuse of statistics in medical research
		I have prepared an article on the misuse of statistics in medical research.
		Some of your complaints, such as the misuse of relative risk and the quite small benefits from certain medical interventions are valid.
		Now the placebo group is safer than the perindopril group and their difference p1-p2= -1.6%, according to formula (1), is statistically significant with the confidence interval greater than 99.7%.
	www.pahealthsystems.com /message318733.html (1869 words)

	statistics
		Once you have completed the work, you are to roll the die again so that you generate a total of eight samples of twelve rolls [you will end up rolling the die 96 times].
		It is now time to generate some of your own statistics using some of the data that you already have already looked at.
		You are to create the summary statistics for monthly data on the interest rate on 6-month government debt.
	www.uri.edu /artsci/newecn/Classes/Art/306a/Assignments/statistics.html (2235 words)

	StatResearch
		The misuse and uncertainty of statistics and statistical data is a vital concern in areas of scientific importance, which include articles published in Science Magazine.
		When we have another dozen or so credible teams with data defended and modeled estimations we will be approaching an amount of random samples sufficient to create a distribution necessary to achieve confidence intervals and likelihood for the estimation of the predictions of the age of the universe.
		Doyle concludes that the statistical error rate was "unacceptably high" in some papers containing numerical results published in specific journals—sixty-five (40% of 164) papers in the British Journal of Psychiatry in 1993.
	www.usd.edu /~vmcbride/WorkHistory/StatResearch.htm (2991 words)

	stats (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
		Statistics (often mispronounced "sadistics") is not the bad guy you thought.
		The trick is not to know all the mystical mathematical derivations of complex formulas, but rather to understand the data you have and how statistics helps you answer research questions.
		Statistical Consultant-- Just like your research advisor, this online expert tutorial will ask you questions about your data.
	faculty.css.edu /dswenson/web/stats.html (440 words)

	Links to Analysis of Data Sites
		Statistics allow us to make sense of the empirical data we collect.
		The Dubious Data Awards for 1995, 1996 and 1997, and the Fishiest Facts of 1996 offer hours of hilarious reading about the misuse of statistics.
		Family - page 4 - Politics and Statistics — Regression toward the mean — another fine contribution by David Likely, University of New Brunswick.
	www.tulsa.oklahoma.net /~jnichols/analdata.html (400 words)

	Math Mach 12 Grade 8 - Mach 7 - Misuses Of Statistical Data, Including Biased Samples And Misleading Statistics (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
		Go to Misuse Of Statistics and read the examples.
		Go to Misleading Statistics and read about how newspapers and websites often report misleading statistics.
		On your own paper, name a couple of examples of misuse of statistics given in the article.
	www.thatmathsite.com /mach_12/grade_8_mach7.shtml (313 words)

	Five Guidelines for Using Statistics - HBS Working Knowledge
		Although the perspectives offered here won't qualify you to be a high-powered statistical analyst, they will help you decide what to ask of the analysts whose numbers you rely on.
		These principles—found in any statistics textbook—enable you to calculate a confidence interval for an entire population based on a sample.
		In this case, 4.1 might not be statistically different from 3.9 because it fell within the confidence interval.
	hbswk.hbs.edu /archive/5352.html (1179 words)

	University of Wyoming General Bulletin: Statistics
		Focuses on real examples of the use (and misuse) of statistics.
		Topics include parametric and non-parametric estimation for censored data without covariates, and for data with covariates, the proportional hazards regression model, additive hazards regression model and parametric regression models.
		An introduction to the various statistical software programs currently in use at the University of Wyoming.
	uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu /registrar/bulletin/stat.html (876 words)

	FOXNews.com - Reading Between the Numbers - Blog \| Blogs \| Popular Blogs \| Video Blogs
		Anyone familiar with what passes for statistics within feminism will not be surprised by the willful corruption of data.
		For example, journalists rarely ask, "What is the margin of error?" or "Does the average reflect a mean or a median?" Public schools contribute their share by failing to teach the fundamentals of statistical analysis.
		Popular statistics — e.g., "one in four female college students will be victimized by rape or attempted rape" — must include the definition of "rape" being used in order to be meaningful.
	www.foxnews.com /story/0,2933,45917,00.html (1180 words)

	A few links related to Statistics Education
		Statistics Instruction Using Technology Target Audience: This software was developed for Educational Psychology 101, Analysis and Integration of Statistical Data in Education, an introductory statistics course for health, psychology, and education students.
		Statistical considerations for clinical trials and scientific experiments Find sample size, power or the minimal detectable difference for parallel studies, crossover studies, or studies to find associations between variables, where the dependent variable is Success or Failure, a Quantitative Measurement.
		Statistical Datasets The purpose of this electronic service is to provide access to a variety of datasets suitable for teaching statistics.
	noppa5.pc.helsinki.fi /links.html (9064 words)

	Prescription Drugs: Misuse, Abuse and Addiction
		To raise awareness regarding the misuse and abuse of prescription drugs, to present the latest research on the topic, and to encourage discussion and further scientific inquiry in this field.
		The meeting was opened by NIDA Director, Alan I. Leshner, Ph.D. He highlighted the need for renewed attention and research regarding the abuse of prescription drugs, such as opioids, central nervous system depressants, and stimulants.
		Drug abuse issues in pain management are complex, but these study results suggest that the risk of opioid abuse is low compared with the benefits of the drugs in chronic pain management.
	www.nida.nih.gov /MeetSum/misuse.html (889 words)

	Obsidian Wings: Pet Peeve #278
		They are often subtle and tricky, so I suspect that most misuse is unintentional but it still irks me. I am especially annoyed when I come across a discussion that would otherwise be interesting but which relies on sketchy statistics.
		Furthermore there are systemic things that inflation statistics under and over estimate so over long periods of time simply quoting the annual inflation statistic and applying it to the nominal dollar value isn't really sufficient.
		The professor was quite frank; educators are often uneducated about statistics and statistics are misused to sell bandwagons to credulous school districts.
	obsidianwings.blogs.com /obsidian_wings/2006/02/pet_peeve_278.html (9182 words)

	STUDENT'S QUEST PROJECT PROBES HOW MEDIA MISUSE STATS (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-08)
		People reading stories heavy on polls and statistics need "to be aware that the statistics they hear are sometimes misleading or flawed," Trela said.
		With the shrinking news cycles, reporters are often in such a hurry to file stories that they do not take time to check statistics, qualify the potential for bias or include a broader context, she added.
		It will be one of more than 120 programs at Quest, SUNY Oswego's annual daylong symposium to share the scholarly and creative pursuits of faculty, staff and students at the college.
	www.oswego.edu /administration/public_affairs/releases/apr04/trela.html (552 words)

	United Nations Statistics Division - Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics
		Most misuse is unintentional and can be minimized by statistical agencies themselves ensuring they follow sound statistical principles in the
		Other measures to minimize misuse include the publication of documentation explaining key statistics and
		While statistics can be used and interpreted in many different and acceptable ways, it is important for the maintenance of trust and credibility of official statistics that attention is drawn by statistical agencies to obvious public incorrect use or interpretation, along with the correct use.
	unstats.un.org /unsd/goodprac/bpaboutpr.asp?RecId=4 (159 words)

Try your search on: Qwika (all wikis)