Comments on: Statistics Versus Common Sense

By: wnylibrarian

wnylibrarian — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:13:08 +0000

Perhaps these were the twenty-five year old Beverly Hills 90210 type claiming to be teenagers? Was the study sponsored by the Warren Commission? There are a lot of gaps here.

By: Scott Holewinski

Scott Holewinski — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:28:55 +0000

Statistics can be warped to back up any theory. Several years ago I had stats which proved that Aaron Brooks was one of the best QBs in fantasy football.

Of more concern to me is that teenage pregnancy should drop off at the age of 20. Who are these 25 year olds claiming to be teenagers? And how I am supposed to trust the statistics of a study that considers 25 a teen?

By: wnylibrarian

wnylibrarian — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:05:51 +0000

Statistics is a game onto itself. I’ve always felt you could use statistics to prove or disprove any argument. As a baseball fan this is so apparent. Player1 was 0-5 today. What? He was 3-3 yesterday! He’s also batting .290 on the season! You have to have the full composite picture. Player1’s 3-3 yesterday included a Baltimore chop the 3rd baseman mishandled, but the scorer called it a hit anyway. 2nd hit came off a pitcher making his MLB debut and was nervous. He would’ve been out on hit 3 but the ball hit the second base bag and ricochet away from the short stop. He’s also a career .239 hitter and the first four weeks of the season he was batting .375—which means he’s now working his way back to .239. What I’m trying to emphasize is I feel one should look at composite statistics to look at trends, but don’t be so acute to base a decision on just one or two just to justify your stance (and unfortunately in some cases ego).

By: Joe Webb

Joe Webb — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 13:44:20 +0000

Absolutely. Statistics in isolation are completely worthless and even misleading.

For example, a number of cities can claim to be the largest city in America based on different criteria – most population, most square miles inside the city limits, etc.

I like the anonymous quote: “Unfortunately, most people use statistics like a drunkard uses a lamppost, for support rather than illumination.”

By: Jeremiah Peschka

Jeremiah Peschka — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 12:49:52 +0000

Personally, if I can’t find a way to verify and reproduce the data, I’m typically fairly wary. Unless it’s a sweeping statement like “All DBAs are classy, well-educated, and handsome”.