Abusing Statistics

Dogs have 4 legs. Cats have 4 legs. Therefore cats are dogs.

This is an example of...

• A logical fallacy

• A false assumption

• Distorting figures

• A lie

I saw a man and a woman together. They must be a married couple.

This is an example of...

• A logical fallacy

• A false assumption

• Distorting figures

• A lie

The students in my class all love to study.

This is an example of...

• A logical fallacy

• A false assumption

• Distorting figures

• A lie

This image is an example of...

• A logical fallacy

• A false assumption

• Distorting figures

• A lie

When people eat ice cream, more people get sunburn.

This is an example of...

• causation

• correlation

• coincidence

When it is hot and sunny, more people get sunburn.

This is an example of...

• causation

• correlation

• coincidence

When people stopped using internet explorer, there were fewer murders in the US.

This is an example of...

• causation

• correlation

• coincidence

This is an example of ...

• distorting data scales

• logical fallacy

• presenting one choice of many, as if it was the only choice

• a lie

The top image is an example of...

• a logical fallacy

• presenting one choice of many, as if it was the only choice

• cherry-picking data

• distorting the data scale

When you distort the data scale, what do you do?

• lie about the numbers

• only show data from a small sample, that fits the result you want

• start the vertical scale at a high value, to make any variation seem bigger

• Present lots of unrelated information, to hide the information you don't want people to notice.