Statistics for Everyday Life · Lesson 5

Misleading Statistics

beginner⏱ 18 min · 7 cards

The big idea

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Nearly every misleading statistic is true

Selection and framing do the work. "Check the facts" is not enough.

Try it

“Studying successful companies to find the habits that cause success.”

Which technique is producing the misleading impression?

Name the technique and the question that exposes it.

Second World War

Damage on returning aircraft clustered in wings and fuselage, so the obvious move was to armour there.

Abraham Wald saw the flaw: the data only covered planes that returned. The undamaged areas were where hits were fatal. Armour those instead.

Three questions

Tap each.

Nuance

Common misconception

"Support rose 5%" can mean 40→45 (five percentage points) or 40→42 (five percent of 40). Written identically, meaning very different things.

Quick check

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