this presentation is based on the ted talk "3 ways to spot a bad statistic" by Mona Chalabi.

1. Three Ways To Spot A Bad
Stats
Based on the TED talk by Mona Chalabi

3. On one hand, people believe
stats are crucial, that it is the
key to make sense of society as
a whole…

4. …on the other hand, some say
statistics don’t make sense of
what’s happening in people’s
everyday life.
And most people fall in the
second category.

5. Some believe that is of no use to collect data.
But if we don’t have data, how can we fix it?
How can a government make fair policies if they can’t measure current level of
unfairness?

6. There are three questions you can ask to spot a bad statistics

7. 3 questions to spot a
bad stats
And insights from the talk

8. 1. Can you see uncertainty?
 A lot of data visualizations will overstate certainty, and it works- these charts can
numb our brains to criticism.
 When you hear a statistic, you might feel skeptical. Facts like injustice and
inequality leaves a huge marks on our lives.
 Point of visualization is to remind people of some really important statistical
concepts- like average.

9. 2. Can I see myself in data?
 This question is about average in a way.
 People are frustrated with national statistics, when they not match up with their
personal experiences.
 Every single dataset doesn’t necessarily needs to relate specifically to you.

11. 3. How was the data collected?
 How data is collected or the survey is carried out matters as much as the data is
communicated.
 Private companies don’t have a huge interest in getting the numbers right, they
just need the right numbers.
 Government data is more reliable.

13. RELEVANCE
To a manager

14.  To make better policies a manager
must maintain a team which can
take care of the uncertainty of the
data.
 A manager should keep in mind
that if a survey is carried out for
generating a particular data set, it
targets almost ‘all’ the people
concerned by or affecting the data.

15. THANK YOU
By Astha Jagetiya