Quote:
Originally Posted by lsfoster
It's interesting, because this is exactly why I don't like statistics. The numbers might not lie, but numbers by themselves have no meaning. If you just put: 50. It doesn't mean anything. Even: 50%. Of what? Take the first statement, 50% of californians polled disapproved..... It's technically true. It doesn't say "50% of californians disapproved..." It says that 50% of the ones polled. It just doesn't tell you who those are.
The numbers might not be able to lie, but they are also completely unable to present their "truths" without words, and the words are too easy to manipulate.
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this is true as well. as my statistics professor said, the only thing you can do when reading a survey is to interpret the methodology, numbers and results as best you can before arriving at your own conclusion.