Ethical Problems In Statistics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Ethical Problems In Statistics - Essay Example As users of statistical data, we ought to be on the lookout for falsehoods in statistical reports. We should look for the conscious or unconscious influence that has a tendency to distort the numbers and information. Figures may be filtered for controlling factors and thereby leading to the production of curious results. We should be aware of and look for indicators of an influenced sample. These include small samples size and biased samples. Users should try to figure out if any information is missing. The absence of supporting information that directly relates to the source is enough to suspect unreliability. It comes in the form of a correlation that does not present measures of reliability like probable error and standard deviation. Also, it can be in the form of a mentioned percentage that is not backed by its numeric base materials. We should look for the possible trends present in the totals or conclusions. These trends will usually tend to give information of one case in comp arison another whereas the cases may be not similar. For all claims made based on unproven assumption, the user should always analyze whether they make sense. Though the current trends may be established using facts, the future trends can only predict successfully using a reasonable hypothesis. Another issue of ethics is, genuine data though full virtues can be manipulated, exaggerated, and oversimplified by experts and accepted by people. This compounded by the fact that people have a tendency to trust experts.