3 WAYS TO SPOT A

BAD STATISTIC ANALYSIS

OF TED
TALK BY
MONA
CHALABI
KEY INSIGHTS
 WHAT ARE
STATISTICS?
 40%
BUT, DO WE OF AMERICANS
TRUST DON’T TRUST
STATISTICS? GOVERNMENT
STATISTICS
 SOME SAY: WHILE OTHERS SAY:
 Statistics are  Statistics are
crucial, we need elitist, maybe even
VARIED them to make sense rigged; they don't
VIEWS ON of society as a make sense and they
whole in order to don't really
STATISTICS move beyond reflect what's
emotional happening in
anecdotes and people's everyday
measure progress in lives.
an objective way.
3 QUESTIONS TO
SPOT A BAD
STATISTIC
 Many a times there may be a lot of variations in
the data set itself.
1. CAN YOU
Thus taking the average of such a data set can
SEE lead to very misleading conclusions,
UNCERTAINT
Y So whenever we see a statistic, the first step is
to heck for the uncertainty in the data.
 If the sample size used to predict a result is too
small, then the chances are that the statistic
SMALL wrong.
SAMPLE SIZE So another way to check for uncertainty is by
observing the size of sample.
 Whenever we see a statistic, we shall try to see if
we fit into the data.

2. CAN I SEE Even if we cannot directly fit into the dataset we

shall try to get as much context as possible.
MYSELF IN
THE DATA We shall try to zoom out from one point and see
the variation of statistic for various sections of
the dataset.
 Statisticians many times tend to overlook one
fact over another and that can lead to severely
misleading results.
We shall look into what data was actually
3. HOW WAS collected in a survey and then also investigate
THE DATA which factor in the survey was given precedence
COLLECTED? over which factor
As the precedence of factors can bend the
statistic towards either way.
RELEVANCE TO
MANAGERS
Whenever a manager is faced with a
statistic, he shall look into variance in the
data set used and see if there is skew in it.

He shall always ask his analysts to never go

by the average of the data, as it can lead to
very misleading conclusions.
TRY TO MINIMIZE THE
UNCERTAINTY IN THE
DATA.
 He shall ensure that his analysts are given
good data source to create statistics.

ENSURE THAT A good data set must have the following

THE SOURCE properties:-
IS RELIABLE 1. A big sample size
AND GOOD.
2.Contains all the data the valid
parameters that may affect the result.
THANK YOU!!
BY: TARANG JAIN