They can be abused, by people who understand statistics talking to people who don’t understand statistics. This is a good reason to learn statistical methods rather than reject them.
There are levels of abuse, some blatant, some subtle. Leading questions are obvious, when you have the question asked. Publishing bias is difficult to spot, even for trained scientists looking for it.
Learning about statistical methods isn’t enough. People need to be taught how to weigh the data presented against the value of misleading them.
It’s a subsection of logical reasoning, and needs to be taught as part of an integrated whole.
They can be abused, by people who understand statistics talking to people who don’t understand statistics. This is a good reason to learn statistical methods rather than reject them.
There are levels of abuse, some blatant, some subtle. Leading questions are obvious, when you have the question asked. Publishing bias is difficult to spot, even for trained scientists looking for it.
Learning about statistical methods isn’t enough. People need to be taught how to weigh the data presented against the value of misleading them.
It’s a subsection of logical reasoning, and needs to be taught as part of an integrated whole.
I think statistically (pun intended) there are more problems with people ignoring statistics or plain lying, than statistics being abused