A note on statistics: Maybe the majority of the people in this world slept through this class in high school and/or college (or it was taught poorly) - but reading article after article and seeing post after post, it had become very apparent to me that there is a general misunderstanding of statistics as a whole. The bottom line means NOTHING without interpretation - which is why it is called statistical ANALYSIS. As an example, dealing with transportation related statistics I know that there was a marked decrease in fatalities and injuries on American roadways from 2008 to 2010 and then these numbers began to increase again in 2011. Does this mean that roadways were safer during those years in which the statistics trended downward, and now they are again becoming less safe? NO. Like every other statistic in this world, these bottom line numbers require this crazy thing called INTERPRETATION. In 2008 the stock market crashed. As a result, people drove less and exposure decreased. To simply look at the bottom line numbers and say that roadways were safer in those years is irresponsible and incorrect. Now lets bring it to what is going on today. I read again and again about the disproportionate casualty statistics in Gaza - a result of people simply looking at the bottom line and calling that the facts. Without even going into the manner in which Hamas goes about its business, I pose the question - what would these statistics look like if Israel did not have the iron dome missile defense? Would public opinion be changed if the thousands of rockets aimed at Tel-Aviv actually hit their heavily concentrated CIVILIAN targets? Would it make the world feel better if Hamas was accomplishing its main goal and killing Israelis by the thousands? Would the bleeding hearts then side with Israel instead of condemning a nation that has been under constant attack? But in this world we live in people read the first page and the last - nothing in between, and dont take a second to consider why these statistics are what they are. This will be my only public comment on the matter, and if you would like to respond please do so ONLY if you have something to say about statistical interpretation and analysis. I will not engage anyone on the other aspects that surround the conflict as Facebook is not the place for that type of debate. But dealing with statistical ANALYSIS every day for the past 6 years in graduate school, it pains me to see the general public, including people that I know to be intelligent, not taking even a moment to consider why these numbers are the way they are. Think and analyze people - then maybe you can make a comment about statistics that has some merit. I say again, if you want to respond, talk about the issue I have discussed above. I will delete every comment that is off topic so as to not pollute my friends timelines anymore than I already have with this long post/rant.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 16:41:38 +0000
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