The post made by Avanti Giradharan, "How the media used data to mislead you", presents the outlook on the ways of how the statistics can manipulate a person. Although we live in a technological advanced era, the current technologies provide the high possibility for data to be distorted and manipulated to warp your view. The article consists of 5 main parts, which are Misleading Graphs, Skewed Statistics, Crafted Headlines, Clickbait, and Confirmation bias.
The Misleading Graphs describes the way of how does the graph can be manipulated. It involves the part of scale distortion and cherry-picking. Scale distortion refers to the ways of how by manipulating with x- axis and y-axis the interpretation of statistics could be made, while cherry-picking is again, referring to decide whether to include some of the important data records.
The Skewed Statistics refers to the problems, and it incorporates the parts about the neglect of variables and measurement of estimates. Neglect of variables indicates and states that some of the variable could be overlooked and uncontrolled. The part about measurement of variables, however, refers more to the nature of statistics, as the statistics are predictable, and they do not state the truth about the particular subject. As for example, you cannot judge someone based on the findings of the research.
The Crafted headlines are refers more to the problem of headliners, as they are sometimes do not provide the actual information stated further in article. It is important to remember that the purpose of them is to make you click on that, and headlines are purposely made to attract attention.
The Clickbait is the technique which was made to attract the attention of the people fast. The data used there for a clickbait is often distorted or simplified, and main goal of clickbaits is to get an emotional reaction from you. The main motivation for the clickbaits is the garner views and relevance, thus, the pieces of information might not be reliable.
The Confirmation bias plays an important role in data analysis, as it tends to look for, interpret, and recall information in ways that comply with our conceived notions. The media can present lots of examples where the confirmation bias was made by focusing only on information, studies, and data that narrative want to push. Also, the same algorithm is used in the social media these days, as the confirmation bias is used to promote commentaries and content based on your preferences.
I suggest this article can help you to understand more the misleading statistics and how they are made. It included more specific ways to do so, as well as broader and simple explanation of the theory behind the misleading statistics.
References.
Giradharan, A. (2021). How the media used data to mislead you. All Sides. https://www.allsides.com
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