Statistics are used to analyze and inform information about things around us. For the most part, statistics are good to collect data, make appropriate decisions on a matter, or even to present something important to a big audience. Even though statistics are good, there are a lot of people who misuse it to alter facts and data. This is either by accident due to lack of knowledge, or intentionally to benefit that person’s view on something. I believe a lot of statistics are not accurate because it is simply an estimate instead of the entire truth.
In the world today, if someone presents a certain piece of data, it will most likely be believed by a big population. I think people are so eager to accept statistics because it’s based off studies, and if it is coming from a scientist or a politician, it’s easy to believe they are being honest. If a politician is preaching about things the population wants, and then shows data for that subject, they will most likely be able to convince people that it is true. It’s easy to sit back and accept something if it sounds right because after all, you really don’t know much about the data in the first place.
For example, if I disagreed with what a politician had to say, I wouldn’t go confront them because I don’t have the knowledge they do. What a lot of people don’t know; is how easy it is to manipulate the data to how you want it to look. This comes in a lot of forms such as data visualization, purposeful bias, and data fishing. (‘Misleading Statistics & Data – News Examples For Misuse of Statistics’, 2020)
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In my opinion, the fact that people misuse statistics purposely in their favor is not acceptable whether. The way I see it is if you must lie to get someone to believe in what you are trying to say, then you are as good as your lie. It’s one thing to mess up on data by lack of education, but it’s another to purposely deceive data to get what you want. I do understand why scientists use statistics to collect data though. It would be more difficult to get information on a survey if you had to walk door to door to ask everyone in a population.
The use of statistics makes it easier to collect data and information. Although this is an easy way to get data, I don’t think it’s fair to push this data as the truth. When you grab a variety of people’s opinion on something, that doesn’t mean every single person in that population agrees, it’s just an estimate. Whether the data is for politics, science or a critical approach, I don’t agree with it being misled as the complete truth.
A news story that I believe presents biased claims or conclusions is about the recent outbreak of the COVID – 19, also known as the Coronavirus. This is a tricky one because It’s a new virus that has no vaccine or cure. News stations have claimed over 100 in the US recently, but it is much more than that. Articles are also confirming over 90,000 illnesses worldwide. Since the virus can stay dormant for more than two weeks, it’s hard to pinpoint exactly how many people are infected and don’t know it.
Since this is spreading like a wildfire, the statistics aren’t accurate. Another thing the media is doing is avoiding the truth about the outbreak. Many of the people dying are elderly or people that had health issues such as heart and lung disease before they got the virus. It wasn’t until recently that the media was disclosing this. Another thing they are avoiding discussing is that this can be like a cold to some people and not everyone’s conditions are severe.
At this point I think the news is just covering some situations for popularity whether it be completely true or not. There are a lot of statistics comparing the flu and the coronavirus which I don’t find fair. People think because the flu has killed more people, the coronavirus isn’t serious, which isn’t true. It is true that the flu has killed over 46,000 in the last year and a half. (‘2019-2020 U.S. Flu Season: Preliminary Burden Estimates’, 2020). There are confirmed almost 4,000 deaths in the worldwide since December. (‘Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the U.S.’, 2020). The only differences are that the flu has a vaccine, and the corona virus does not.
Moreover, statistics are a great way to portray most factual data and studies on important situations around the world. Although it is a great way to get information across to the population, it isn’t always the entire truth. Since it is impossible to have one-hundred percent factual data, statistics will always be an estimate. When looking at real life scenarios after researching misused statistics, it is easy to distinguish from the truth and biased conclusions.
