Assignment is to reply to (2) peers listed below, Do not reply to original topic, original topic is provided to have an idea of what is being answered.
Original topic: : Find an article about the misuse of statistics and share what you have learned from the article. Then, find an example of when statistics were misused/skewed and state the reason why you think the statistics were reported that way.
Initial Post Guidelines: Support your thinking in the initial post with academic sources. Paraphrase the information from the academic sources (Don’t copy and paste!). Cite the information you took from the academic sources and provide a reference list of the academic sources you used in your initial post.
Substantive Participation Replies Guidelines: When replying to someone’s post, add something new to what that person stated. Challenge the person’s thinking about the topic with something s/he did not consider. Identify a current event that is related with the person’s topic and explain how is related. Share personal experiences that are related with the person’s topic.
Peer (1) Natalie
Statistics is an essential asset in modeling various epidemics, for example, HIV/AIDS, Ebola, and other diseases. Mathematical and statistical modeling enables the estimation of probabilities of occurrences; forecasts the outbreaks over various territories (Bharati, 2021). The misuse of such data can provide a different outcome that is not accurate. This issue can lead to an incorrect intervention which will result in disastrous consequences. When presenting the statistic finding through a graph, it is more important to look at it from the consumer/reader’s perspective than the producer’s perspective. This approach would make the chart properly interpretable as it is produced in a consumer-friendly term. In this case, in the medical field, the data collection could be correct but wrong interpretations can result from the depictions (Bharati, 2021).
In the quest to get better headlines and generate more attention, newspapers, medical journals, information journals, and other media always love to report big numbers. The sensationalism of statistics of medical research findings raises unnecessary anxieties and unrealistic hopes. In October nineteen ninety-five, the United Kingdom Committee on Safety of Medicines issued a warning that third-generation oral contraceptive pills could cause life-threatening blood clots in the lungs or legs twofold, that is a hundred percent (Gigerenzer, 2007). The announcement caused women to stop taking the pill, which resulted in unwanted pregnancies and abortions. The headline and story never clearly stated what the hundred percent meant. The second-generation pills study found out for every seven thousand, one woman was affected, whereas, in the third generation, two were against the same sample size. The media won while the women, pharmaceutical companies, the government health care system all lost.
Bharati, S., & Batra, R. (2021). How Misuse of Statistics Can Spread Misinformation: A Study of Misrepresentation of COVID-19 Data. arXiv preprint arXiv:2102.07198.
Gigerenzer, G., Gaissmaier, W., Kurz-Milcke, E., Schwartz, L. M., & Woloshin, S. (2007). Helping doctors and patients make sense of health statistics. Psychological science in the public interest, 8(2), 53-96.
Peer (2) Antonio
“A report prepared by former Senator George J. Mitchell indicated that Roger Clemens and more than 80 other Major League Baseball players used illegal, performance-enhancing drugs, the former Cy Young award-winning pitcher went on the offensive to clear his name. Added to Clemens’ testimony before Capitol Hill lawmakers was a voluminous report prepared by a marketing agency that relied on statistics to make the case for Clemens’ innocence.”
“But an article in the February 10 edition of the New York Times written by four Wharton faculty makes another case: The validity of a statistical analysis is only as good as its individual components. It’s a distinction that is likely to gain in importance as organizations and individuals try to make sense of an increasingly large and complex barrage of information.”
I choose this article because it gives a good example of the misuse of statistics. By informing that these professional athletes would be taking drug enhancement medications to perform or out perform the other players. This causes the statistics to be false because its not fair to the rest of the major League Baseball players. Roger Clemens and many others used illegal substances to enhance their performance this was the beginning and the end of these substances.
Citations:
https://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/
