Misuses of Statistics

While Statistics can also be misused in many ways such as using not representative samples, small sample size, ambiguous averages and dispersions, detached facts, implied connections, wrong and misleading graphs, wrong use of statistical techniques, serious violation of assumption behind the statistical techniques and faculty surveys, we should also realize that Statistical literacy is not a skill that is widely accepted as necessary in education. Therefore a lot of misuse of statistics is not intentional, just uninformed. But that does not mitigate its danger when misused because Statistical techniques are many times misused, to sell products that don’t work; to prove something that is not really true, to get the attention of public by evoking fear and shock. Statistics has numerous uses. It is difficult to find a field in which statistics is not used. Statistics plays integral part in many disciplines, and do not take reported relationships at their face value, especially if you cannot see a direct, causal link between them. There may be a common-sense reason why they are linked through a third, unreported variable or other intended or unintended connections. Going through exercises 1 through 10 on page 810, I decided to do exercise number 4. The question reads “In many ads for weigh loss products, under the product claim and in small print, the following statement is made: “These results are not typical.” What does this say about the product being advertised?”
It is intriguing but rather serious when media plays with our emotion just to get our attention in whatever ways they can. Both print and electronic media have created a means of satisfying our emotional instabilities by coming up with advertisements that will capture our attentions. Weigh loss products and program are few of the many that have been bombarding the airwaves. Many at times I pondered when watching television or listening to radio commercial, whether

References: Bluman, A. G. (2011). Mathematics in our world (1st ed. Ashford University Custom). United States: McGraw-Hill.