Share sensitive information only on official, These two questions are likely to provoke far different responses, even though they deal with the same topic of government assistance. Proactively address the publics questions. Recommended articles lists articles that we recommend and is powered by our AI driven recommendation engine. On August 6, 2020, Rachel Maddow of MSNBC tweeted Chart: Kansas mask counties versus no-mask mandate counties (Maddow Citation2020, August 6) along with a link to a plot (see Figure 1) created by the Kansas Department of Health and Environmentwhich was also shared live on The Rachel Maddow Show that same day. 5 Howick Place | London | SW1P 1WG. Statistics - Using the Truth to Mislead - The Health Care Blog Here are common types of misuse of statistics: Now that you know them, it will be easier to spot them and question all the stats that are given to you every day. What is a conclusion you could draw from this plot that would not make much sense (i.e., pushing them to make the causation error)? Rather its politicians trying to make a point for their own interest or just someone not understanding the information behind the graphs and charts they create, crime statistics are not free of being misleading. With the increasing reliance on intelligent solution automation for variable data point comparisons, best practices (i.e., design and scaling) should be implemented prior to comparing data from different sources, datasets, times, and locations. No, it isn't. The size of India's middle class was 50 . It becomes hard to believe any analysis! . 10 Bogus -- And Widely Believed -- Statistics - Seeker The intent is to convey a shift in focus from cancer screenings to abortion. It is a data mining technique where extremely large volumes of data are analyzed for the purpose of discovering relationships between different points. In this case 100/1.2% =88. The below graph is the one most often referenced to disprove global warming. You can see a graph that shows the UK National debt from 1995 to 2016. Oftentimes, data fishing results in studies that are highly publicized due to their important or outlandish findings. Some useful questions to ask could be: What purpose might the Georgia Department of Public Health have had in manipulating the plot in this way? The example above is an example of selective bias; the biologists were recruited, not randomly selected. Move with urgency toward coordinated, at-scale investment to tackle misinformation. This example of a misleading use of statistics is perhaps one of the more clear cases of intent to mislead, despite attempts of the administration to make it appear accidentalsee May 19 story about the response in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Mariano and Trubey 2020 ). Fact 1: The world's population is rapidly ageing. The image below shows a graph advertising KFCs crispy chicken twister wrap and comparing its calories with other brands with a similar product. Manipulating the Y-axis+ 6. The Misuse of Statistics in Politics: Abortion | YIP Institute As an entrepreneur and former consultant, Mark Suster advises in an article, you should wonder who did the primary research of said analysis. Here is a guide from the CDC on the myths and facts about COVID-19 vaccination. Take this first example of a misleading graph that proves global warming is real. It is our hope that these examples inspire statistics educators and statistics teacher educators to leverage these kinds of examples for use in teaching and learning to support students in working toward statistical literacy within the vision of the Pre-K12 and College GAISE Reports (Bargagliotti etal. Now, you might be wondering, how can this be misleading? Together, we have the power to build a healthier information environment. Citation2020; GAISE College Report ASA Revision Committee Citation2016), there are specific goals related to being a critical consumer or informed citizenwhich includes being able to dissect and make sense of statistical information designed for the general publicas well as content expectations around facility with accurate data visualizations. Citation2020), this very truth has now been laid bare for the world to see in the media and social media as the general public grapples with making, and making sense of, data-based arguments around COVID-19. Another unfair method of polling is to ask a question, but precede it with a conditional statement or a statement of fact. Surgeon General Our Priorities Health Misinformation Health Misinformation With the abundance of health information available today, it can be hard to tell what is true or not. Annual Data 3. This is with the same aim of making it seem like the cases are dropping. Not using annotations 12. Independent university study group, lab-affiliated research team, consulting company? This is known as the misuse of statistics. It is often assumed that the misuse of statistics is limited to those individuals or companies seeking to gain profit from distorting the truth, be it economics, education, or mass media. Home Uncategorized examples of misleading statistics in healthcare. What information is missing from this data? The Challenges of Cancer Misinformation on Social Media - NCI Be prepared to be confused. Continue to modernize public health communications. While numbers dont always have to be fabricated or misleading, it is clear that even societys most trusted numerical gatekeepers are not immune to the carelessness and bias that can arise with statistical interpretation processes. Now, if we take a closer look at this chart we can find a few mistakes that make the information very misleading. To illustrate, a survey asks 20 people a yes-or-no question. As mentioned, this is not the only time Fox News has been criticized because of these situations. Misleading statistics in politics are quite common. Sears' Bamboo fabric > Parent Company: Sears > Ad changed: yes > Settlement Amount: $475,000 Sears Holdings agreed to pay $475,000 and. Prevalence of Health Misinformation on Social Media - PubMed Misleading Coronavirus graphs. Doing a quick research, you find that 900 out of 1000 patients that went into surgery at Hospital A survived, while 800 out of 1000 survived at Hospital B. The problem with correlations is this: if you measure enough variables, eventually it will appear that some of them correlate. Data (Mis)representation and COVID-19: L . 2 Cases of COVID Data Being (Mis)represented, https://doi.org/10.1080/26939169.2021.1915215, https://www.causalflows.com/introduction/, https://www.amstat.org/asa/education/Guidelines-for-Assessment-and-Instruction-in-Statistics-Education-Reports.aspx, http://www.thefunctionalart.com/2020/05/about-that-weird-georgia-chart.html, https://www.statisticsteacher.org/2019/09/19/using-locus-released-items/, https://apnews.com/f218e1a38cce6b2af63c1cd23f1d234e, https://twitter.com/MaddowBlog/status/1291553722527604736?s=20, https://www.ajc.com/news/stateregional-govtpolitics/just-cuckoo-state-latest-data-mishap-causes-critics-cry-foul/182PpUvUX9XEF8vO11NVGO/, http://www.stat.auckland.ac.nz/iase/serj/SERJ5(2).pdf#page=30. Overloading readers with data 9. There, they speak about two use cases in which COVID-19 information was used in a misleading way. Lets explain this better with an example. If all this is true, what is the problem with statistics? 19 Most Misleading Statistics (That Are Technically Correct) By: Cracked Plasticians April 20, 2016 Advertisement When the math adds up, the numbers never lie. Now that weve looked at examples and common cases of misuse of statistics, you might be wondering, how do I avoid all of this? Omitting the baseline 5. This is one of the many controversial examples of misleading COVID statistics that illustrates the authorities' responsibility to inform their audience accurately. Misleading Healthcare Graph 2005;2 (8):e124. The first example of misleading data visualization comes to us courtesy of Reddit but was originally propagated by Fox news. Cited by lists all citing articles based on Crossref citations.Articles with the Crossref icon will open in a new tab. Register a free Taylor & Francis Online account today to boost your research and gain these benefits: Data (Mis)representation and COVID-19: Leveraging Misleading Data Visualizations For Developing Statistical Literacy Across Grades 616, a School of Teacher Preparation, Administration & Leadership, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, b Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Houston, Houston, TX, GAISE College Report ASA Revision Committee. But this didnt come easy. No, of course, its a made-up number (even though such a study would be interesting to know but again, could have all the flaws it tries at the same time to point out). Researchers should not allow their values, their bias, or their views to impact their research, analysis, or findings, therefore, looking at the way questions and findings are formulated is a good practice. Are you being misled by statistics? - Clearer Thinking About eight-in-ten U.S. murders in 2021 - 20,958 out of 26,031, or 81% - involved a firearm. The available information and expert opinion seems to vacillateone year fats are terrible for you and the next they are a health food. However, in the case of Figure 3, because the purpose is to draw attention to the misleading horizontal axis, it can be a useful plot for secondary students who have not yet been exposed to side-by-side histograms. Another way of creating misleading statistics, also linked with the choice of sample discussed above, is the size of said sample. Basically, there is no problem pro se - but there can be. Once hearing this statement, doctors were skeptical, as they knew how dangerously addictive opioids could be to treat chronicle pain. Using a clearly defined scale, here is what the information looks like: Once placed within a clearly defined scale, it becomes evident that while the amount of cancer screenings has in fact decreased, it still far outnumbers the amount of abortion procedures performed yearly. This a sad representation of how dangerous misinformation can be. Misuse of Statistics- What Leads to The Misuse of Statistics In critical scenarios such as a global pandemic, this becomes even more important as misinformation can lead to a higher spread and more deaths. A typical example of amplification often happens with newspapers and journalists, who take one piece of data and need to turn it into headlines thus often out of its original context. By Bernardita Calzon in Data Analysis, Jan 6th 2023, 3) Misleading Statistics Examples In Real Life. However, some have argued that it may have been unintentional (Cairo Citation2020, May 20). During the initial stages of COVID, the general public was forced to consume scientific information in the form of data visualizations to stay informed about the current developments of the virus. Engage with your friends and family on the problem of health misinformation. The name and date of birth used in this example are imaginative, used for illustrative purposes, and do not represent an actual patient. This is according to NASAs Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Insightful graphs and charts include a very basic, but essential, grouping of elements. Misinformation spreads especially easily on social media and online retail sites, as well as via search engines. There are plenty of examples available, but looking to the world of hockey, a team that gets the puck in their opponents' end during a power play and just cycle for two minutes without taking a shot actually waste a two minute opportunity with puck possession. Sometimes, it is better to just make a simple bar or even a table with a couple of columns so that something like this won't happen. For this last question, it would be important to make sure students are not merely concluding mask mandates lead to higher case rates than not having them. Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Quality of Health Care in America. This video can be used for educational and training purposes. Purposeful bias is the deliberate attempt to influence findings without even feigning professional accountability. Take care to apply data responsibly, ethically, and visually, and watch your transparent corporate identity grow. examples of misleading statistics in healthcare This can lead to poor decision-making due to misinformation. The misuse of statistics is a much broader problem that now permeates multiple industries and fields of study. The problem was, the graph, which is depicted below, was built with a y-axis on a logarithmic scale instead of a linear one, making it look like the rate of change is smaller than it actually is. ", we can address 8 methods often used - on purpose or not - that skew the analysis and the results. Misleading Statistics in Healthcare - E Phlebotomy Training A quick look shows that counties with mask mandates (the orange line) in place have shown a stark decline in COVID-19 cases over the course of about 3 weeks that has led to lower case numbers than counties without a mask mandate. Cumulative VS. After showing this plot to students, some useful questions could be: Fig. Taking that into account, what the graph is actually showing is an increase in deaths using firearms after the law was enacted. Misleading Statistics - Real World Examples For Misuse of Data For example, picking only a good-performing month to build a sales report will portray a misleading picture of the overall sales performance. ) or https:// means youve safely connected They provide great insight, often more so than the answers. Omitting data 10. Misleading Graphs: Real Life Examples - Statistics How To Consider headlines and images that inform rather than shock or provoke. What the data says about gun deaths in the U.S. Data dredging is a self-serving technique often employed for the unethical purpose of circumventing traditional data mining techniques, in order to seek additional conclusions that do not exist. As we can see, the X axes here start from 590 instead of zero. 15 Misleading Data Visualization Examples - Rigorous Themes Such examples that appear in the purview of the general public have potential for motivating critical discourse around statistics content and interpretation that can lead to further curiosity of more advanced statistical thinking and reasoning. To the question "can statistics be manipulated? In this article, we showcase examples of how data related to the COVID-19 pandemic has been (mis)represented in the media and by governmental agencies and discuss plausible reasons why it has been (mis)represented. As a result, the lack of statistical literacy among the general public, as well as organizations that have a responsibility to share accurate, clear, and timely information with the general public, has resulted in widespread (mis)representations and (mis)interpretations. This is a case of misleading statistics that can be done purposely, to achieve a specific result, or accidentally. Coca-Cola falsely claimed its Vitaminwater products could promote healthy joints, reduce the risk of eye disease, and have other health benefits. On August 6, Steven Strogratz posted the following plot on Twitter (see Figure 2), which was a recreation of the plot produced by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment with the right side vertical scale removed and both categories of data appropriately placed on the same scale. Each is likely a result of a third factor, that being: an increased population, due to the high tourism season in the month of June. During the pandemic, health misinformation has led people to decline vaccines, reject public health measures, and use unproven treatments. For instance, the nature of the group of people surveyed: asking a class of college students about the legal drinking age, or a group of retired people about the elderly care system. Grueskin shared some of these insightful examples of misleading statistics in the news in a Twitter thread that became very popular. Columbia Journalism School professor Bill Grueskin even made a lesson to its students about the topic and used several misleading charts from the US news show as an example of what not to do when presenting data. As such, this is a great misleading statistics example, and some could argue bias considering that the chart originated not from the Congressman, but from Americans United for Life, an anti-abortion group. Clearly, there is a correlation between the two, but is there causation? Brian Kemp's said: "The x-axis was set up that way to show descending values to more easily demonstrate peak values and counties on those dates, our mission failed. Christopher Engledowl & Travis Weiland wrote an insightful article called Data (Mis)representation and COVID-19: Leveraging Misleading Data Visualizations For Developing Statistical Literacy Across Grades 616. In 2006, The Times, a popular UK newspaper, printed a story about how they were the leading paper both online and in print in the UK. Address health misinformation in your community. They're infallible, concrete, impossible to argue with -- however you want to spin it, they make one solid point. The novel coronavirus has forced the world to interact with data visualizations in order to make decisions at the individual level that have, sometimes, grave consequences. Effects related to COVID-19 During the pandemic, health misinformation has led people to decline vaccines, reject public health measures, and use unproven treatments. 39 Most Outrageous Product Claims of All Time - 24/7 Wall St. Research 101: Descriptive statistics - American Nurse Today Although researchers have decried the need for statistical literacy among students and society for decades (Wallman Citation1993; Gal Citation2002; Bargagliotti etal. Prioritize understanding how people are exposed to and affected by misinformation, and how this may vary for different subpopulations. A controversial representation of this happened in 2014 when a graph depicting the number of murders committed using firearms in Florida from 1990 to 2010 was published in the context of the Stand Your Ground law, enacted in 2005 to give people the right to use deadly force for self-defense. There are two problems with this. . Provide the public with context to avoid skewing their perceptions about ongoing debates on health topics. Going https://rigorousthemes.com/blog/misleading-data-visualization-examples/ Category: Health Show Health How does the second plot cause you to reconsider the weight of evidence (e.g., Pfannkuch Citation2006; Engledowl and Gorham Blanco Citation2019) supporting your conclusion? These are nine of the most misleading product claims. The results provide deceiving information that creates false narratives around a topic. The prevalence of health misinformation was the highest on Twitter and on issues related to smoking products and drugs. By Nikki Gilliland July 25th 2016. Bad Data Visualization in the Time of COVID-19 - Medium That marked the highest percentage since at least 1968, the earliest year for which the CDC has online records. Why so many of the COVID-19 graphs you see are misleading xkdc's comic illustrates this very well, to show how the "fastest-growing" claim is a totally relative marketing speech: Likewise, the needed sample size is influenced by the kind of question you ask, the statistical significance you need (clinical study vs business study), and the statistical technique. Stopping COVID-19 with Misleading Graphs | by Nikita Kotsehub | Towards Lets look at one of them closely. Learn how to identify and avoid sharing health misinformation. A plot with two vertical axes is inherently more complicated to digest, especially in this case, because the two axes are not designed to show a relationship between two different attributes. This technique is often used in politics to exaggerate a result that would otherwise be much less interesting. Omitting the baseline 5. In a similar fashion, once students have begun to develop an understanding of associationa topic beginning in the eighth grade under CCSSM, and appearing in tertiary statistics as well as quantitative reasoning coursesa time-series plot might be shared, such as the one in Figure 4 taken from this blog post (Acquah Citation2020, May). These studies are very soon contradicted by other important or outlandish findings. Image: Yale University What's wrong with this picture? Each kind is calculated differently and gives different information (and a different impression) about the data: Each of these sources may have other primary purposes, so there are advantages and challenges when they are used for the purposes of quality measurement and reporting. This plot (Figure 2) shows something quite different than the one shared by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment in the August 5 press conference. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. By closing this message, you are consenting to our use of cookies. Providing solely the percentage of change without the total numbers or sample size will be totally misleading. In 2007, Colgate was ordered by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) of the U.K. to abandon their claim: More than 80% of Dentists recommend Colgate. The slogan in question was positioned on an advertising billboard in the U.K. and was deemed to be in breach of U.K. advertising rules. This conversation will support students in then reconsidering the first plots from Case 1 from the Kansas Department of Health (see Figure 1), with a new understanding of their usefulness. Purposely or not, the time periods we choose to portray will affect the way viewers perceive the data. As businesses are often forced to follow a difficult-to-interpret product roadmap, statistical methods can help with the planning that is necessary to navigate a landscape filled with potholes, pitfalls . Did you know that with a free Taylor & Francis Online account you can gain access to the following benefits? To learn about our use of cookies and how you can manage your cookie settings, please see our Cookie Policy. For instance, showing a value for 3 months can show radically different trends than showing it over a year. The Cake Is a Lie. Reuters / Via reddit.com 2. Dietary supplement businesses frequently exaggerate the health benefits of their products. Convene federal, state, local, territorial, tribal, private, nonprofit, and research partners to explore the impact of health misinformation and establish best practices for prevention. This is problematic because this plot was used to describe statistical trends directly to the general public. An infographic with tips on how to talk to your community about health misinformation. Statistics are nfi for to ability and capability to existing as misleading and bad data. For these reasons, a firm understanding of data science is an essential skill for professionals. We found 18 examples of false advertising scandals that have rocked big brands some are still ongoing and not all companies have had to pay up, but each dealt with a fair amount of negative. There are two take-aways when comparing the two plots. This list of misleading statistics fallacy examples would not be complete without referencing the COVID-19 pandemic. To get this journey started, let's look at a misleading statistics definition. Omitting baselines, or the axis of a graph, is one of the most common ways data is manipulated in graphs. Certain industries tend to have more issues with misleading claims. In the field of healthcare, statistics is important for the following reasons: Reason 1: Statistics allows healthcare professionals to monitor the health of individuals using descriptive statistics.. Reason 2: Statistics allows healthcare professionals to quantify the relationship between . It is, therefore, argued by global warming opponents that, as there was a 0.1-degree decrease in the global mean temperature over a 14-year period, global warming is disproved. Much like abortion, global warming is another politically charged topic that is likely to arouse emotions. Disinformation is when misinformation is used to serve a malicious purpose, such as to trick people into believing something for financial gain or political advantage. This misleading tactic is frequently used to make one group look better than another. They can lead to misleading statistics that give you a faulty idea of customer satisfaction and product preferences. A 2009 investigative survey by Dr. Daniele Fanelli from The University of Edinburgh found that 33.7% of scientists surveyed admitted to questionable research practices, including modifying results to improve outcomes, subjective data interpretation, withholding analytical details, and dropping observations because of gut feelings. 19 of the persons respond yes to the survey. A Guide To Bad & Misleading Data Visualization Examples - datapine to the .gov website. This misleading data example is also referred to as data dredging (and related to flawed correlations).