Based on the misuse techniques we covered, it is safe to say that this sleight off-hand technique by Colgate is a clear example of misleading statistics in advertising, and would fall under faulty polling and outright bias. Going against conventions. For instance, the nature of the group of people surveyed: asking a class of college students about the legal drinking age, or a group of retired people about the elderly care system. Prioritize understanding how people are exposed to and affected by misinformation, and how this may vary for different subpopulations. When an experiment or a survey is led on a totally not significant sample size, not only will the results be unusable, but the way of presenting them - namely as percentages - will be totally misleading. Misleading statistics in politics are quite common. Several Twitter users began attempting to make sense of what the data were actually saying. Misleading Statistics in Healthcare - E Phlebotomy Training At a glance, the chart makes you believe that The Times has twice as many full-price subscriptions as its competitor. Looking for U.S. government information and services? In a similar fashion, once students have begun to develop an understanding of associationa topic beginning in the eighth grade under CCSSM, and appearing in tertiary statistics as well as quantitative reasoning coursesa time-series plot might be shared, such as the one in Figure 4 taken from this blog post (Acquah Citation2020, May). In this case 100/1.2% =88. While initially, the trend was going towards choosing option A, when grouping surviving patients considering other variables the trend changed to option B. Truncating axes means doing the opposite. Home Uncategorized examples of misleading statistics in healthcare. Misleading statistics are dangerous. Small samples underrepresent your target audience. Cherry picking data. How inclusive was it? The name and date of birth used in this example are imaginative, used for illustrative purposes, and do not represent an actual patient. The graph shows the growth of COVID-19 cases from March 5 to March 31. Content. Managing Partners: Martin Blumenau, Ruth Pauline Wachter | Trade Register: Berlin-Charlottenburg HRB 144962 B | Tax Identification Number: DE 28 552 2148, News, Insights and Advice for Getting your Data in Shape, BI Blog | Data Visualization & Analytics Blog | datapine, NASAs Goddard Institute for Space Studies. I have mentioned the most common mistakes that can lead to misleading or misuse of statistics. But, what about causation? organization in the United States. . Prioritize protecting health professionals and journalists from online harassment. Why so many of the COVID-19 graphs you see are misleading to the .gov website. To illustrate, a survey asks 20 people a yes-or-no question. While numbers dont always have to be fabricated or misleading, it is clear that even societys most trusted numerical gatekeepers are not immune to the carelessness and bias that can arise with statistical interpretation processes. Statistical reliability is crucial in order to ensure the precision and validity of the analysis. The issue comes with the second graph that is displayed in the article, in which we see a comparison of full-price sales between The Times and one of its biggest competitors, the Daily Telegraph. It is fixed". . Stopping COVID-19 with Misleading Graphs | by Nikita Kotsehub | Towards Not using annotations 12. As a result, the lack of statistical literacy among the general public, as well as organizations that have a responsibility to share accurate, clear, and timely information with the general public, has resulted in widespread (mis)representations and (mis)interpretations. Was there a rapid decline in cases? Insightful graphs and charts include a very basic, but essential, grouping of elements. Take care to apply data responsibly, ethically, and visually, and watch your transparent corporate identity grow. We all need access to trusted sources of information to stay safe and healthy. A controversial representation of this happened in 2014 when a graph depicting the number of murders committed using firearms in Florida from 1990 to 2010 was published in the context of the Stand Your Ground law, enacted in 2005 to give people the right to use deadly force for self-defense. (1 days ago) WebMisleading Data Visualization Examples 1. Another issue, and maybe the worst of them all, is that the dates under the bars are not ordered chronologically. People who were more susceptible to . We start by showing a less obvious example of how having statistical literacy, including an understanding of the art of data visualization, can cause speculation about (mis)representations of data. As healthcare is so dominant in the news, I want to show an example of a confusing and misleading graph about a hospital. Knowing when data is accurate and complete, and being able to identify discrepancies between numbers and any . 1. During the pandemic, health misinformation has led people to decline vaccines, reject public health measures, and use unproven treatments. The example above is an example of selective bias; the biologists were recruited, not randomly selected. But you cannot know until you ask yourself a couple of questions and analyze the results you have in between your hands. Image: Yale University What's wrong with this picture? What did the scientist or statisticians try to figure out? What is a conclusion you could draw from this plot that would be more accurate (i.e., pushing them to consider association or correlation concepts)? Drinking tea increases diabetes by 50%, and baldness raises the cardiovascular disease risk up to 70%! Prioritize early detection of misinformation super-spreaders and repeat offenders. If the sample size of the study is too small to prove its conclusion then you should be responsible enough and not use these results as an absolute truth as this paves the way for future misinformation. To get this journey started, let's look at a misleading statistics definition. Now, the obvious answer is going for option A. Surgeon General Our Priorities Health Misinformation Health Misinformation With the abundance of health information available today, it can be hard to tell what is true or not. These are important questions to ponder and answer before spreading everywhere skewed or biased results even though it happens all the time, because of amplification. The field of statistics is concerned with collecting, analyzing, interpreting, and presenting data.. Top Five False Statistics | TIME.com U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Misleading Statistics: Definition & Examples - Video & Lesson 2 Steven Strogatzs Twitter comment to show a recreation of a plot showing the number of daily cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 in the population of Kansas. Each kind is calculated differently and gives different information (and a different impression) about the data: Based on the structure of the chart, it does in fact appear to show that the number of abortions since 2006 experienced substantial growth, while the number of cancer screenings substantially decreased. These studies are very soon contradicted by other important or outlandish findings. 5 Howick Place | London | SW1P 1WG. There is also the broader context here, which is counties with mask mandates are oftentimes counties that are more densely populated and are seeing larger numbers of cases prompting them to take action. Now that weve looked at examples and common cases of misuse of statistics, you might be wondering, how do I avoid all of this? The Importance of Statistics in Healthcare (With Examples) Here are five techniques for fudging the numbers with misleading statistics examples: Technique #1: Citing Misleading "Averages" The first technique is using the word "average" without specifying what kind of average a figure represents. Many seem wilfully false, created out of, say, a journalist's desire to create a sensation, a government's need to make a political point or an aid agency's wish for more funds. This slide includes the key takeaways from the advisory. 10 Bogus -- And Widely Believed -- Statistics - Seeker Misinformation is information that is false, inaccurate, or misleading according to the best available evidence at the time. The most common ways statistics are misused, besides misinterpretation, are the following: faulty polling, flawed correlations, misleading data visuals, selective bias and small sample size (Lebeid 2018). 18 False Advertising Scandals - Business Insider Uncover the power of spider charts with this complete guide including examples, best practices, and more! We found 18 examples of false advertising scandals that have rocked big brands some are still ongoing and not all companies have had to pay up, but each dealt with a fair amount of negative. That said, a bigger sample size is always better, as it highlights statistical differences more accurately. Reuters / Via reddit.com 2. The Cake Is a Lie. Representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah explained: In pink, thats the reduction in the breast exams, and the red is the increase in the abortions. Ebola, for example, kills 50% of the people it infects on average, which is why the doctors who treat it wear hazmat suits. Accepted author version posted online: 12 Apr 2021, Register to receive personalised research and resources by email. This is known as the misuse of statistics. It is often assumed that the misuse of statistics is limited to those individuals or companies seeking to gain profit from distorting the truth, be it economics, education, or mass media. 1) Misleading Data Visualization Examples 2) How to Avoid Misleading Visuals 3) The Impact Of Bad Data Visualizations Nobody likes feeling manipulated in any way, shape, or form. Move with urgency toward coordinated, at-scale investment to tackle misinformation. 4 Plot published in Acquah (Citation2020, May) utilizing two vertical axes to compare ice cream consumption and drowning deaths across time to represent association. Proactively address information deficits. Secure .gov websites use HTTPSA lock ( Lets take a look at some of the evidence for and against. It becomes hard to believe any analysis! As one out of twenty will inevitably be deemed significant without any direct correlation, studies can be manipulated (with enough data) to prove a correlation that does not exist or that is not significant enough to prove causation. Tread carefully, for either knowingly or ignorantly, correlation hunting will continue to exist within statistical studies. For instance, showing a value for 3 months can show radically different trends than showing it over a year. The graph generated a big controversy on social media, especially on Twitter, where users pointed out that the Georgia Health Department had repeatedly used misleading statistics during the COVID-19 outbreak. The above graph/chart was presented as a point of emphasis. The ASA continued, Because we understood that another competitors brand was recommended almost as much as the Colgate brand by the dentists surveyed, we concluded that the claim misleadingly implied 80 percent of dentists recommend Colgate toothpaste in preference to all other brands. The ASA also claimed that the scripts used for the survey informed the participants that the study was being performed by an independent research company, which was inherently false. What Is A Misleading Statistic? 19 Most Misleading Statistics (That Are Technically Correct) Too good to be true: 39 products with exaggerated or misleading claims Asking a question to a sample size of 20 people, where 19 answers "yes" (=95% say for yes) versus asking the same question to 1,000 people and 950 answers "yes" (=95% as well): the validity of the percentage is clearly not the same. Furthermore, an essential discussion should center around why specific locations may have had a mask mandate versus why others may not have, and to focus attention on the change over time within each grouprather than comparing between the groups. Seeking a relationship between data isnt a misuse per se, however, doing so without a hypothesis is. Moreover, we believe these kinds of examples are useful in expanding the toolkit of resources available that are in line with other similar resources, such as the book published by Madison etal. About eight-in-ten U.S. murders in 2021 - 20,958 out of 26,031, or 81% - involved a firearm. Statistics is regularly used by urban planners to decide how many apartments, shops, stores, etc. PLoS Med. Let's check those mistakes. Scientists! After showing this plot to students, some useful questions could be: Fig. Fact 1: The world's population is rapidly ageing. Using the wrong graph 7. Really? The number of people aged 60 years or older will rise from 900 million to 2 billion between 2015 and 2050 (moving from 12% to 22% of the total global population). 3099067 The case started when the giant pharmaceutical company, Purdue Pharma, launched its new product OxyContin, which they advertised as a safe, non-addictive opioid that was highly effective for pain relief. Although this controversy happened around 1996, the case of Purdue Pharma and their highly addictive drug OxyContin is still affecting thousands of American citizens and has already taken the lives of thousands of others to this date, all due to the misuse of statistics as a marketing tactic. In addition to our cases motivating discussion of association, the plots also offer an important consideration of how scaling modifications can mislead the consumer. A Beginners Introduction To The Most Common Data Types In Programming, A Complete Guide To Spider Charts With Best Practices And Examples Of When To Use Them, A Beginners Guide To The Power Of Area Charts See Examples, Types & Best Practices, Using percentage change in combination with a small sample size. Share sensitive information only on official, There are plenty of examples available, but looking to the world of hockey, a team that gets the puck in their opponents' end during a power play and just cycle for two minutes without taking a shot actually waste a two minute opportunity with puck possession. This is not to say that there is no proper use of data mining, as it can in fact lead to surprise outliers and interesting analyses. The time 7 million was 5x more than 6 million. 3 Tweet on May 16 by Calling Bullshit showing a misleading plot produced by the Georgia Department of Public Health. These are the fake health news that went viral in 2019 Broad dissemination and consumption of false or misleading health information, amplified by the internet, poses risks to public health and problems for both the health care enterprise and the government. It demonstrates the change in air temperature (Celsius) from 1998 to 2012. If youre not sure, dont share. Misleading graphs in context: Less misleading than expected In CCSSM, students gain experiences with histograms beginning in grade 6, and they begin comparing multiple plots as early as the seventh grade. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC BY license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. For further thinking about this topic, I recommend this blogpost (Rost Citation2018, May). Misleading pie chart 4. This is reported by the makers of Fosamax accurately as a 56% reduction in risk, which is true but misleading. For some effective examples of visual information, check out this visualization of wealth shown to scale, or Nicky Case's website, which is full of interactive games that explain how society works. As we mentioned earlier, the sample size is of utmost importance when it comes to deciding the worth of a study or its results. Examples of misuse of statistics in the media are very common. American network Fox News has been under scrutiny several times throughout the years for showing misleading statistics graphs that seem to purposely portray a conclusion that is not accurate. Give researchers access to useful data to properly analyze the spread and impact of misinformation. Why Health Professionals Should Speak Out Against False Beliefs on the Continue to modernize public health communications. Statistics are nfi for to ability and capability to existing as misleading and bad data. For example, one popular video recommended injecting herbs into the prostate to treat cancer, which is unproven and potentially dangerous. Statistics presented without context should be viewed critically. Statistics are infamous for their ability and potential to exist as misleading and bad data. Advanced technology solutions like online reporting software can enhance statistical data models, and provide digital age businesses with a step up on their competition. If you see this graph, you would obviously think the UKs national debt is higher than ever. However, misinformation on major public health issues, such as vaccines and diseases, was also high. They provide great insight, often more so than the answers. secure websites. It is also worth noting that, as there is a large degree of variability within the climate system, temperatures are typically measured with at least a 30-year cycle. As an exercise in due diligence, we will review some of the most common forms of misuse of statistics, and various alarming (and sadly, common) misleading statistics examples from public life. Increase resources and technical assistance to state and local public health agencies to help them better address questions, concerns, and misinformation. The Govenor race where one guy's 37% was WAY more than just 37% gravismarketing.com / Via reddit.com 4. When the Georgia Department of Public Health posted this plot (see Figure 3), it went viral because of what may have been intentional data manipulation. It is worth mentioning that 1998 was one of the hottest years on record due to an abnormally strong El Nio wind current. Misleading Statistics - Real World Examples For Misuse of Data 13 Graphs That Are Clearly Lying - BuzzFeed News We will discuss this specific case in more detail later in the post. This article provides guidance on best practices for detecting health misinformation and assessing the accuracy of different information sources. Each is likely a result of a third factor, that being: an increased population, due to the high tourism season in the month of June. Now, if the issue here is not obvious enough, we can see that the Y-axis in this chart starts from 58% and ends at 78%, making the 12% drop from 2009 to 2019 look way more significant than it actually is. Just like other industries or areas that we will cover on this list of examples, the healthcare industry is not free of the misuse of statistics. Now that weve put the misuse of statistics in context, lets look at various digital age examples of statistics that are misleading across five distinct, but related, spectrums: media and politics, news, advertising, science, and healthcare. Increase investment in research on misinformation. In 2007, Colgate was ordered by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) of the U.K. to abandon their claim: More than 80% of Dentists recommend Colgate. The slogan in question was positioned on an advertising billboard in the U.K. and was deemed to be in breach of U.K. advertising rules. No, it isn't. The size of India's middle class was 50 . Citation2020; GAISE College Report ASA Revision Committee Citation2016), in particular as it relates to being a critical consumer of statistics. For example, on a poll seeking tax opinions, lets look at the two potential questions: - Do you believe that you should be taxed so other citizens dont have to work? They're infallible, concrete, impossible to argue with -- however you want to spin it, they make one solid point. . similar name packaging or misleading presentations of drug strength or dosage, . It is generally agreed upon that the global mean temperature in 1998 was 58.3 degrees Fahrenheit. Making this a clear example of how the time period that we chose to portray can significantly change the way people will perceive the information. As you saw throughout this post, illustrated with some insightful bad statistics examples, using data in a misleading way is very easy. Engage with your friends and family on the problem of health misinformation. Recently, Kellogg's UK was hit with a ban from the ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) after making false health claims in its advert for Special K cereal. 19 Most Misleading Statistics (That Are Technically Correct) By: Cracked Plasticians April 20, 2016 Advertisement When the math adds up, the numbers never lie. Each of these sources may have other primary purposes, so there are advantages and challenges when they are used for the purposes of quality measurement and reporting. To illustrate this point further, lets assume that a study has found a correlation between an increase in car accidents in the state of New York in the month of June (A), and an increase in bear attacks in the state of New York in the month of June (B). First of all, the X-axis does not have a label, even though according to the chart, it is meant to show the number of cases over time, this doesn't happen. Which saw an increase of millions of visitors in just a couple of years, so far, everything looks normal. Misleading p-values showing up more often in biomedical journal Verify the accuracy of information by checking with trustworthy and credible sources. False or misleading information is causing people to make decisions that could have dangerous consequences for their health. Statistics - Using the Truth to Mislead - The Health Care Blog We then build on these examples to draw connections to how they could be used to enhance statistics teaching and learning, especially as it relates to secondary and introductory tertiary statistics and quantitative reasoning coursework. Partner with community groups and other local organizations to prevent and address health misinformation. You can also ask someone external to your research to look at the data, someone biased to the topic that can confirm your results are not misleading. Moreover, this is a common topic appearing in tertiary introductory statistics courses, as well as courses on quantitative reasoning. And finally, if youre not sure about the content dont share it. Sometimes, it is better to just make a simple bar or even a table with a couple of columns so that something like this won't happen. It usually falls down on the sample of people surveyed. 73.6% of statistics are false. A slideshow version of the Community Toolkit for educators and other community leaders. An example of misleading statistics is when determining whether to take a medical test for a rare but serious disease like spina bifida. See typical methods & real-world examples of misuse of statistics the news, advertising, science & media. However, more often than not, data dredging is used to assume the existence of relationships without further study. Expand efforts to build long-term resilience to misinformation, such as educational programs. The misuse of statistics is a much broader problem that now permeates multiple industries and fields of study. This plot (Figure 2) shows something quite different than the one shared by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment in the August 5 press conference. In the field of healthcare, statistics is important for the following reasons: Reason 1: Statistics allows healthcare professionals to monitor the health of individuals using descriptive statistics.. Reason 2: Statistics allows healthcare professionals to quantify the relationship between . However, some survival rate statistics can be misleading because they don't take into account differences in patient characteristics, such as age, sex, and stage of disease. It is easy to see a correlation. Truncating axes is a very dangerous false statistics practice, as it can help create wrong narratives around important topics. Health misinformation has also led to harassment and violence against health workers, airline staff, and other frontline workers tasked with communicating evolving public health measures. However, the telling of half-truths through study is not only limited to mathematical amateurs. Another unfair method of polling is to ask a question, but precede it with a conditional statement or a statement of fact. Misleading Statistics: Examples of Techniques Used For these reasons, a firm understanding of data science is an essential skill for professionals. One of the most misleading, but rather common, tricks is to use relative risks when talking about the benefits of a treatment, for example to say that "Women taking tamoxifen had about 49% fewer diagnoses of breast cancer", while potential harms are given in absolute risks: "The annual rate of uterine cancer in the tamoxifen arm was 30 per 10,000 Lets explain this better with an example. With the rise of advanced technology and globalized operations, statistical analyses grant businesses insight into solving the extreme uncertainties of the market. Definition of Misleading Statistics Statistics is the practice of collecting, organizing, and representing large amounts of numerical data. 8 Examples of How Statistics is Used in Real Life - Statology We all need access to trusted sources of information to stay safe and healthy. Depending on the measure, data can be collected from different sources, including medical records, patient surveys, and administrative databases used to pay bills or to manage care. In this article, we showcase examples of how data related to the COVID-19 pandemic has been (mis)represented in the media and by governmental agencies and discuss plausible reasons why it has been (mis)represented. What is a conclusion you could draw from this plot that would not make much sense (i.e., pushing them to make the causation error)?

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