Statistics--Can & should they be relied upon & used to make informed decisions or judgements about things?

Question

Statistics--Can & should they be relied upon & used to make informed decisions or judgements about things?

Answer 1

Where do you choose to put your faith?  In numbers? If so, then by all means, use them.  I believe ALL statistics are suspect, at best.

Answer 2

Yes.

However, people are woefully underinformed as to what sample information actually says.

Answer 3

Ones that have been checked by peer review, yes.

Answer 4

i think so bcuz if they were proved then i think u shud make choices upon them.

Answer 5

There is a huge group of areas where they are reliable, and therefore should be included as PART of the data involved in an informed decision.

The caveat is no statistic is 100% reliable as it does not include all cases. However, many many statistical data are more than reliable enough to aid in decision making.

Answer 6

What decisions? What statistics?

Insofar as a particular decision requires data, and one has access to reliable statistics, then, of course.

If you'd explained AT ALL what you're talking about, it would be possible for us to answer more specifically.

My decision of what to have for dinner tonight will not involve any statistics at all, nor should it.

Answer 7

It depends upon how & where you use it. There are cases where very clever people use Statistics as a tool to fool others.

Answer 8

Not really. There are a lot of things to consider.  Where did the numbers come from being the most important question. Particularly dealing with surveys.  There is usally a margin of error too. I guess you should use it as more of a point of reference than completely basing your decisions on it.

Answer 9

Sure, so long as you understand the basis for the statistic, who created it, how it was derived, and what it's standing for.

Statistical evidence is certainly more reliable than anecdotal evidence--which is really what most of our judgments have been made on.  We hear about one heinous kidnapping of a little girl so we quickly react and pass mandatory minimum laws for all kidnappers to serve 90 years in prison.  We see one bridge disaster and stop building all other public infrastructure to repair bridges.  The media overemphasizes anecdotal evidence, and it oftentimes causes us as a society to overreact and improperly react.

Yes, statistics can be manipulated, and oftentimes are.  And that's the job of the publisher of the statistic to provide the full background so that you can make your own decision.  But we shouldn't exclude that evidence just because it's manipulable by people good at math.

Answer 10

Mark Twain said there were three things he didn't trust: lies, damned lies, and statistics.

I tend to agree.  It's amazing how they can be "spun" to seem to support whatever you want them to.  I'm guilty of doing it myself!