I’ve seen a lot of statistics. I’ve analysed data for law enforcement, business and marketing. So, I thought I’d share a few things statistics will always tell you. And one it almost never does.

1. It tells you what people thought was worth recording

• Note that no one is recording the size and weight of your bellybutton fluff. You’ll be shocked to find nobody cares.
  
  
• We are only recently recording online grooming, despite chat rooms existing 30 years ago. We (society at large) have recently decided it’s important, so we have recently started to record it.
  
  
• It’s worth asking what else might be important in the future, that you could start recording now.
  
  

2. Who people thought were worth asking

• We can only see the answers of people we ask. It seems an obvious thing to say, but its a common mistake.
  
  
• Tools like survey monkey audiences suggest you are asking ‘the public’. What you’re really seeing is the opinions of people who fill out surveys. That’s a very specific type of person.
  
  
• If you filter for ethnic minority responses you’ll see tools like Survey Monkey are disproportionately white. Ask how you can specify a representative panel.
  
  

• How many people they spoke to

• Look at the bottom of most adverts and you’ll see the actual size of their surveys and trials.

• To get a robust (useful) set of answers you need to ask enough people. You can’t just ask your friends. Anything claiming to represent all men/women should have at least 900-1000 answers. Anything else isn’t reliable.
  
  
• It costs more money to ask more people. So this also shows what’s more important; integrity or profit.
  
  

What statistics hardly ever tell you?

Statistics, especially when quoted by someone, are almost always used to make a point more credible. But they never tell you what that person is trying to achieve. Statistics always imply something.

Here’s a fun game to demonstrate that point.

How to play

1. Read the statistic
2. Guess what it’s saying
3. Read the context

There are no winners except your brain 🧠

Let’s go …

1. Use of anti-depressants has sky rocketed since 1975

Context… SSRIs, modern antidepressants, weren’t invented until the 1980s. In other words no one took them because they didn’t exist.)

2. One in three Muslims sympathise with terrorists

Context… The actual researchers’ question asked was “Do you have sympathy for the families of suicide bombers?”. In other words, do you think it’s sad for mothers who have lost their sons to extremism?

3. The UK has taken over 210,000 refugees from the Ukraine conflict.

Context…  In a crisis that has created 6 million refugees, this equates to less than 4% of the people in need.

Follow the money

All of these situations are more complicated then a single statistic can communicate. So always ask, how does the writer benefit from using this statistic. That’s all.

Thanks for playing and keep your eyes and mind open.