Statistics Can't Lie?
By
Staten Island, NY Posted: 4/28/2017 1:00:00 AM
I have a hard time trusting statistics. Numbers can't lie, but the people interpreting them can.
I have a hard time trusting statistics, because I've seen how often people twist the results, to prove their point.
For example, some of the most successful drugs in the world are cholesterol lowering Statins, which statistically improve your chance of avoiding a heart attack by 33%, or at least that's what the drug companies would like you to believe.
The trouble with that statistic is it only tells half of the story, because when you look at the raw data, what you find is that people taking Statins lowered their chance of getting a heart attack by only 1%. If there was only a 1% improvement, how can the drug companies say there's a 33% improvement? Easy. They just manipulate their interpretation of the raw data.
That's because manipulating the numbers is actually pretty simple. The raw data shows that 3% of people taking Statins have heart attacks, as compared to 2% who don't. That's only a 1% change, which isn't as sexy as saying the "Relative Change" was 33%, which is their way of interpreting the fact that 1% is a 33% change from 2%. Telling people they'll only have a 1% improvement is no way to sell pills, and that's why they rarely give people the raw data.
Manipulating statistics isn't restricted to drug companies. Just about every financial report, political poll, and survey you've ever read has been sifted through a filter to make the results fit the agenda of the people who reported it.
Joe Crescenzi, Founder
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