Statistics and Society

If you've studied statistics (or in my case, haven't studied statistics), or if you are at all concerned about how statistics affect our society, then you may have heard of Joel Best. In his book Damned Lies and Statistics, he reveals how stats can take on a life of their own, especially if they are misquoted and put back out there for all to see. This isn't a book review, but rather a response to society and statistics that should open our eyes to the numbers and ratios that soar through our news coverage like little gods.

Best gives an example of a misquote about a societal statistic relating to violence and children. The original quote was making a point in saying that since 1950 until recent years, the number of children who have been gunned down has doubled within this time frame. Best writes about a student who quoted another source which happened to misquote this statistic by saying the number of gunned down children has doubled every year-as if this continues on and on every year. In that case, the number would be an impossible figure, reaching into the trillions and beyond the population of the earth. The sources for the quotes can be found on Best's web site.

The student quoted correctly what he had read. The writer got it wrong. How many times does this happen in our trusty newspapers, magazines or on the nightly news where we are expecting quotes and statistics to be correct. Can they ever be correct? There is always an influence behind a statistic. It could be a monetary reason to get a company to make more sales. It could be a political reason to shift the scales in a particular direction, particularly during campaign time. It could just be a best-choice scenario of which number seems to be the best at the time. Statistics will chance as research continues, people's opinions are altered or stats are just quoted wrong. The point is to be a reliable society in which statistics are questioned-maybe even challenged-at a level of taking responsibility for what we hear and read.