Everything Maths Grade 11

CHAPTER 18. STATISTICS 18.6

18.6 Misuse of Statistics.

EMBEF

Statistics can be manipulated in many ways thatcan be misleading. Graphs need to be carefully anal-

ysed and questions must always be asked about“the story behind the figures.” Potential manipulations

are:

1. Changing the scale tochange the appearanceof a graph


2. Omissions and biased selection of data


3. Focus on particular research questions


4. Selection of groups

Activity: Misuse of statistics

1. Examine the following graphs and comment on the effects of changingscale.

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2002 2003 2004

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2002 2003 2004

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earnings

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