Statistics in the Media

Think about what you are reading... When there were arguments that were being made against legalizing marijuana, the following statistic came up: 85% of marijuana users went on to become heroine addicts. Someone else replied to this with another statistic: “Yeah, well 99.8% of heroine addicts drank milk.” The first statistic might lead you to believe that marijuana usage leads to a heroine addiction. However, are you also to believe that drinking milk is worse and results in a chance of heroine addiction?

Types of Misleading Statistics Simply Making-up a Statistic This is the most rare type of misleading statistic. It is the easiest for the government to regulate. It is most commonly found in private company surveys because these are the generally subjective studies. Ignoring the Baseline This is generally used by smaller companies that want to compare themselves to the bigger companies. It involve some comparison, whether between companies, products, etc. Commonly used when comparing money in 2 different time periods.

Types of Misleading Statistics cont. Misleading Comparisons This is the most common type of misleading statistic used in advertising. This is extremely difficult for the government to regulate because most of these are completely legal. Survey questions are commonly skewed toward a certain answer. Drug Companies are commonly known to not include how their product studies were conducted. Alcohol and body spray companies are almost always going to try and force subconscious connections between their product and some good outcome, whether emotional or physical

Types of Misleading Statistics cont. Selection Bias This involves either falsely representing the whole population or persistence. Drugs and Hygiene have really latched on to this type of misleading statistic because it comes across as fact. Surveys conducted only online are always guilty of selection bias because many people do not have both a computer and internet capability. Companies commonly use persistence in studies that involve professionals (i.e. dentists, doctors, etc.) so that they will eventually get one study that makes their product look good.

Some instances these influences could appear in media articles (newspaper, online blogs etc) Other instances they could appear in advertising (commercials, magazine ad’s etc.)

Analyse the following media: What information is it “literally” telling you (right from the page) What information can you read “between the lines” Which category does this misleading statistic fall under? What implications can you attain from this information?

Toronto Star – Friday October

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Toronto Star – Friday October

Anchorman

Just remember... But to what degree?