The abuse of statistics

is becoming so widespread I think we should be teaching children how to read them from infancy. Well, not quite perhaps but I do wonder what  can be done about it.

I remember that, as a mere kitten, there was an advertisement on our route into the city which said something like "eight out of ten dentists recommend (a certain toothpaste). The Senior Cat pointed out to me - when I had queried how they had found out this fascinating fact - that it did not say eight out of every ten dentists. I was very disappointed by this.

But since then I suppose I have read statistics with some caution. I have been even more cautious since doing the compulsory units in statistics at university. Oh  yes  I could apply a this test and a that test along with the best of them. Statistics appeared in my thesis - and then I made a major (and successful) argument against them. I listened to the Senior Lecturer in Statistics in the Psychology department talking to the Professor of Statistics in the Statistics department. I won't repeat what they said to each other here but they were bent on manipulating a process in order to get the desired result. It happens.

There are plenty of statistics around. We have had Covid statistics galore recently. Every night the news service I watch puts up the state-by-state statistics telling us the percentage of people who have been vaccinated and doubly vaccinated. I have some issues with those statistics. Are they factoring in the people who are unfortunate enough to want a vaccination but cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons? That's just one issue.

There are all the "climate change" statistics. Oh they can be manipulated in all sorts of ways. Don't mistake me I think climate change is a very very important issue. We only have this tiny little planet on which to live. We should be looking after it much more carefully than we are. But the statistics are being manipulated in ways which can leave a completely false impression - and doing so for purely political purposes. It might seem like a good idea but it can do more harm than good.

And this morning there was an article in our state newspaper. It suggested that public schools were doing better than private schools in  the NAPLAN tests. (NAPLAN tests are national assessments of whether a students is reaching certain benchmarks at intervals during their school life.) My immediate reaction was, "That's interesting - and very good if it is true. Then I read the article. Mmm... the public schools which are doing so well are the selective high schools. They should be doing well. They are getting some of the brightest students in the state, students who have special interests in things like science.

Of course to admit to anything like this would spoil the fun that some people have in trying to fool others. I think it was Disraeli who said, "There are lies, damned lies, and statistics." It might just be he was right about that.