Importance of Statistics
by Mikki Hebl
Learning Objectives
- Give examples of statistics encountered in everyday life
- Give examples of how statistics can lend credibility to an argument
Like most people, you probably feel that it is important to “take control of your life.” But what does this mean? Partly, it means being able to properly evaluate the data and claims that bombard you every day. If you cannot distinguish good from faulty reasoning, then you are vulnerable to manipulation and to decisions that are not in your best interest. Statistics provides tools that you need in order to react intelligently to information you hear or read. In this sense, statistics is one of the most important things that you can study.
To be more specific, here are some claims that we have heard on several occasions. (We are not saying that each one of these claims is true!)
- 4 out of 5 dentists recommend Dentine.
- Almost 85% of lung cancers in men and 45% in women are tobacco-related.
- Condoms are effective 94% of the time.
- Native Americans are significantly more likely to be hit crossing the street than are people of other ethnicities.
- People tend to be more persuasive when they look others directly in the eye and speak loudly and quickly.
- Women make 75 cents to every dollar a man makes when they work the same job.
- A surprising new study shows that eating egg whites can increase one's life span.
- People predict that it is very unlikely there will ever be another baseball player with a batting average over 400.
- There is an 80% chance that in a room full of 30 people that at least two people will share the same birthday.
- 79.48% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
All of these claims are statistical in character. We suspect that some of them sound familiar; if not, we bet that you have heard other claims like them. Notice how diverse the examples are. They come from psychology, health, law, sports, business, etc. Indeed, data and data interpretation show up in discourse from virtually every facet of contemporary life.
