From the course: Learning Data Science: Ask Great Questions
Join today to access over 22,600 courses taught by industry experts or purchase this course individually.
Uncover misleading statistics
From the course: Learning Data Science: Ask Great Questions
Uncover misleading statistics
- One area where you'll likely find a lot of questions is when looking at statistics. Statistics aren't a replacement for facts. They can be misleading. Actually, a lot of statistics lie. At the very least, they tell their own version of the truth. When you're in a question meeting, your team should closely evaluate statistical data. They should question the data and be skeptical of statistics from outside the team. One thing you've already seen is the challenge with calculating an average. The statistical mean might give you one answer. The median might give you a different answer. Often, people will prefer one or the other, depending on which story they want to tell, but there are many other ways you can skew the facts with statistics. Some of them are a little bit more subtle. You have to listen closely to see the sleight of hand. One of these is statistic by inference. It's when you create a statistical connection with one story that you then link to another story. Let's say a…
Download courses and learn on the go
Watch courses on your mobile device without an internet connection. Download courses using your iOS or Android LinkedIn Learning app.