"3 ways to spot a bad statistic" by Mona Chalabi. Analysis by Shloka

1. 3 WAYS TO
SPOT A BAD
STATISTIC
BY MONA CHALABI

2. ANALYSIS
BY
SHLOKA

3. Sometimes it's hard to know what
statistics are worthy of trust. But
we shouldn't count out stats
altogether ... instead, we should
learn to look behind them.
MONA
CHALABI

4. Statistics play a huge
role in our lives. We not
only use them for
academic purposes but
also for real life
activities. While on one
hand, something as
simple as choosing a
certain product over
another is determined by
some statistical data
presented to us, on the
other hand, bigger
matters like some
innovation, medical
breakthrough etc. is also
ROLE OF
STATISTICS

5. BUT DO
YOU TRUST
STATISTICS
???

6. About 4 out of 10 Americans distrust the
economic data that gets reported by government.

7. WE LIVE IN A WORLD OF
ALTERNATIVE FACTS
*Terms and conditions apply
There are a lot of dividing lines in our society right
now, and a lot of them start to make sense, once you
understand people's relationships with these
government numbers.
- On the one hand, there are those who say these
statistics are crucial, that we need them to make
sense of society as a whole in order to move beyond
emotional anecdotes and measure progress.
-There are the others, who say that these statistics
are elitist, maybe even rigged; they don't make sense
and they don't really reflect what's happening in
people's everyday lives

8. HOW CAN YOU SPOT BAD
STATISTICS?
THREE QUESTIONS THAT YOU
SHOULD ASK!!!

9. QUESTION
THE
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. As soon as it's buried in a chart, it feels
like some kind of objective science, and it's not.
01

10. The point of these
shaky lines is so that
people remember
these imprecisions,
but also so they
don't necessarily
walk away with a
specific number, but
they can remember
important facts. .

11. FACTS LIKE:
Facts like injustice
and inequality
leave a huge mark
on our lives.
Facts like Black
Americans and
Native Americans
have shorter life
expectancies.
Facts like prisoners in
the US can be kept in
solitary confinement
cells that are smaller
than the size of an
average parking space

12. 02
The point of these visualizations is also
to remind people of some really
important statistical concepts, concepts
like averages.
ARE YOU AN "AVERAGE" MAN?

13. 02
I can tell you:
"Bill Gates & myself have an average net
worth of $41,750,000,100"
If only that was true!
AVERAGES CAN BE MISLEADING

14. CAN I SEE
MYSELF IN THE
DATA?
The point of this isn't necessarily
that every single dataset has to
relate specifically to you. The
point of asking where you fit in is
to get as much context as
possible. So it's about zooming
out from one data point and
seeing how it changes over time,

15. Theaxesareeverything;onceyouchangethescale,you
changethestory.

16. 10
20
30
40
50
January February March April May June
0
HOW WAS THE DATA
COLLECTED?
10
20
30
40
50
July August September October November December
0
03

17. You just keep
checking
everything. Find
out how they
collected the
numbers. Find out
if you're seeing
everything on the
chart you need to
see.
Couples
12%
Schools
10%
Families
78%

18. But don't give up
on the numbers
altogether,
because if you do,
we'll be making
public policy
decisions in the
dark, using
nothing but
private interests
to guide us.
Couples
12%
Schools
10%
Families
78%

19. THANK YOU!
Something sweet to
end the conversation!