political parties essay

Numbers Lie – Statistics, Politics and the Media, Part 2

Last week, began to look at the amount of numbers and statistics can be used to rotate the riders who work in marketing and politics to mislead the public into believing what we believe. Riders Spin decide what message they wish to convey, then find or create the figures to support their position.

Messages and statistics are then given to the media through press releases, advertising or delivered by a spokesman, or, in some cases, are delivered directly by representatives of society and politicians. This is very effective because the media often use the bites of "his" information without check to see if true – this is particularly true of numbers and statistics. Since information services continue to decline in resources and staff Journalism Research is becoming increasingly common.

It is an unfortunate phenomenon because the general trust of media audience tends to be true and correct. Once numbers appear in the media become more credible and are generally treated as facts. That's a lot easier for selection jumpers wrong.

So far we have talked about the distortion created voluntary from the use of inaccurate or misleading figures. There are so many "honest" means that the figures can lie.

In many cases, people who report figures are biased in how to report them. Think about how your local meteorologist reports on the possibility rain. If rain is forecast is sunny most of the people are not going to blame. If it rains forecast sunny skies and some people will be angry when it rains in your garage sale or the blame game and weatherperson. The forecasters are well aware of this and tend to "protect" customizing a precipitation forecast the possibility of a sunny sky.

Beyond mere prejudices many distortions in the supply and use numbers are errors. Anyone who has had enough math knows that a small error in the calculation can lead to an inaccurate entirely. the more they can make mistakes in the collection, compilation and analysis of numbers and complex – the most probable number of inaccuracies.

Another common mistake is to misinterpret the data because of a lack of understanding of the relationship between things. In first days of the AIDS epidemic many people believe that homosexual behavior "is" of AIDS since the infection was almost completely restricted to men gays. It was not until a large number of women contracting HIV began this hypothesis has been invalidated.

It is beyond the scope of this essay to go into all the ways that the number can not lie. But it is a great little book there who do. As a target = "_blank" title = "Arithmetic – Math illiteracy and its consequences" arithmetic> – mathematical illiteracy and its consequences for John Allen Paulos. Mr. Paulos is a good job of illuminating how the numbers can lie and proposes solutions to the person you want to cut through the BS.

Ultimately, the solution to this problem is in us. There so not always be able to eliminate the distortions that can result from improper use of numbers or the use of inaccurate figures. The figures are used and produced by humans and humans are notoriously fallible. It becomes our responsibility to be skeptical and check the numbers that are important to us.

Whenever possible to investigate the numbers and draw conclusions from them a little research. Here are the Internet search engines are a great resource. Just type in the question and the number and is likely to get more tests the same numbers. Use of alternative news services – there are many available on the Web – and get another point of view before accepting as is the number one suspect. Be aware of prejudices that exist and take into account the distortion in the analysis of the figures.

Perhaps the thing most powerful you can do is to conduct political business and accountable for their misuse of numbers. If you find that the company was distorting the Truth to stop giving them your business. If consumers can not get away with it would force companies to be more faithful to stay in business. Also, do not vote for politicians who bend facts to support their campaigns, and if you still want to vote for them, it has never hurts to give them a call or an e-mail to inform you that your numbers are not accurate and their support issuing a correction.

Although may be able to eliminate the distortions resulting from errors that can reduce deliberate distortion by the responsible riders spin. The Bright Future site is a good article on reducing distortions in insisting on good recordkeeping law keeping history exhibits strong and Propaganda> credibility "and maintain exhibits strong record of propaganda