Statistics as relative truth

Don’t get me wrong. At LSNC we love statistical data! But I am always looking for interesting, real-world examples of how statistical data is effectively used to inform and understand a reality (this map of the Katrina diaspora is a favorite example), or misused leading to misunderstanding of that same reality. There was a great example in last Sunday’s Public Editor column in the New York Times: The Reality in Iraq? Depends on Who’s Counting. My noting the article is not for a political purpose here. Rather it is to draw attention to an example of how numbers are often spewed out, get repeated and become a “truth twice told” having a viral impact on perceptions of what is the “reality” the statistics seem to explain. Another object example of the need to assure your numbers fairly represent what you hold them out to mean.