"How To Lie With Statistics" PODCAST #1

Posted by Eamon Kelly in Statistics - Miles - C on

​Here is our first podcast discussing our observations and opinions on the first three chapters of Darrell Huff's How To Lie With Statistics. 

Speakers: Eamon Kelly and William Derry

The topics that we tackled in this first podcast include...
- Examples of lies with Statistics
- Reasons why people choose to deceive / history
- Structure of the text

No big arguments were started in the discussion, but we did ask for each other's opinions on the topics we were talking about. Two main questions came up toward the end of the podcast:

1) Are we or will we be guilty of using the same tactics used in the book for our personal careers?

2) How will Huff continue to keep us engaged for the rest of the book?


ENJOY :)
StatsPodcast1

Comments (1)

Mark Miles (Teacher)
Mark Miles

Good first podcast. The background noise was a bit distracting, and I'd really like to hear you talk more about the book. Eamon picked out some great quotes to discuss, but then it seemed most of the discussion centered around the pictures.

For next time, make sure you respond to the following prompts:

  1. Choose one of the quotations inside the front cover and discuss how it relates to the Introduction.
  2. List as many sources of sample bias as you can that are mentioned in Chapter 1 and provide an example of each.
  3. Put the second paragraph on Page 18 (“A river cannot….”) into your own words.
  4. What is the advantage of a stratified random sample and what difficulties does it pose, according to this chapter?
  5. When we see an average reported, what do we need to ask besides which kind of average is being used? Why?
  6. Explain why advertisers often rely on a very small sample to substantiate their claims.
  7. What does the author mean on Page 45 when he says, “Hardly anybody is exactly normal in any way…?”

Finally, when discussing chapters 3, 5, or 6, incorporate the following article into your discussion:

http://gizmodo.com/how-to-lie-with-data-visualization-1563576606

Also, each member of your group should find an article online containing a misleading graph and discuss it during the podcast (be sure to talk about why it’s misleading!). Be sure to include a link to all articles in the text of your post of the podcast that corresponds to chapters 3, 5, or 6.