Title Page
Grade 12 College Unit 4 Lesson 3
Statistics in the Media
Today's Learning Goal
By the end today's lesson I will be able to...
Recognize how statistics can be used and misused in the media
Success Criteria
I have achieved today's goal when I can...
Critically evaluate any statistics I hear, see or read.
Today's Agenda Video Introduction
Notebook Lesson "Statistics in the Media" Audio Example
Apr 151:54 PM
•
Children with bigger feet spell better.
•
In the southern U.S., the counties with higher divorce rates generally
have lower death rates.
•
Nations that add fluoride to their water have a higher cancer rate
than those that don't.
Should we be stretching our children's feet?
Does marriage shorten your life?
Is fluoridation a plot?
Video
VideoApr 79:10 PM
Totals
I Disagree
I am NeutralI Agree
I enjoyed the presentations made during class
4
214
I learned a lot from the presentations made during
class.
6
86
I would recommend this class to a friend.
6
311
a)
How many students were surveyed?
b)
How could this data be used to put a negative spin on student
presentations?
Apr 79:04 PM
Indeed, statistics may be one of our most effective and efficient vehicles for communicating information. It is the natural inclination of people to trust numbers over words, and statistics present numbers in an attractive format that even the most innumerate man can follow. In addition, statistics can be presented in a wide variety of forms, from line graphs to tables to pie charts. Each performs its own unique function and offers information from a new perspective.
Yet with every benefit comes a setback. Many people do not realize that numbers in a graph can be easily manipulated to reflect the author’s own wishes. The problem with graphs is that even with missing
Apr 79:29 PM
Nov 66:17 PM
WHAT IS WRONG WITH
THIS REPRESENTATION OF
DATA?
• The perspective of the drawing makes the reader see 1979 barrel as much larger than the other barrels. It also inflates the differences between the years (Note: 1975 & 1976)
• There is no axis or scale of any kind to direct the reader, giving the area of the barrels more influence on the reader.
• Even the labels of the years on the barrels implies this is the key variable when price should be the main focus.
Nov 66:17 PM
they quote in their story.
According to the Advertising Project, one out of three McCain ads has been negative, criticizing Obama. Nine out of 10 Obama ads have been positive, stressing his own background and ideas.
source: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php? storyId=93083563
What is misleading about this statement?
Draw a picture of what it would look like as it was stated in the story:
OBAMA:
MCCAIN:
Now what should the proper comparison look like?
OBAMA:
Nov 66:17 PM
A Newspaper report included the following statement:
"The Prime Minister has approval of 45% of the population This is accurate
to within three percentage points, 19 times out of 20."
What does this statement mean?
It means that if you conducted the survey 20 times, the results would only vary by 3% above or below 45% in 19 of those 20 surveys.
Nov 66:17 PM
SUMMARY:
Statistics in the media can be misleading when:
• Graphs involve yscales that spread out or compress the data.
• Headlines or Titles on Graphs overemphasize one point of the data without looking at the overall trend.
• Unfair comparisons are made between data values.
• Statistics are not explained properly.
• Statistics are based on a very small sample.
• Statistics are based on a biased collection method.
The accuracy statement, "correct to ____ percentage points, 19 times out of 20" means:
• If the survey was conducted 20 times, 19 of those times the results would be the same ± the
Nov 66:17 PM
http://adage.com/video/article?article_id=134703
