[Swprograms] OT: Re: Why Researchers Should Be Gelded

[Mike Barraclough <softbulletin1@xxxxxxxxx>]

Here's a link I found on how to understand statistics 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1091350

However it starts by saying the quote from Twain is
accurate, well the actual quote from Twain was

Figures often beguile me, particularly when I have the
arranging of them myself; in which case the remark
attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice
and force: "There are three kinds of lies: lies,
damned lies and statistics."
- Autobiography of Mark Twain

It can be traced back to a speech by British
politician Leonard Courtney in New York in 1895 

?After all, facts are facts, and although we may quote
one to another with a chuckle the words of the Wise
Statesman, ?Lies - damn lies - and statistics,? still
there are some easy figures the simplest must
understand, and the astutest cannot wriggle out of.?

where he is assumed to have referred to Disraeli. 

Statistical research methods have moved on since 1895
as have politicians/media/company ways of
misrepresenting them!

Mike








		
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