‘Politicians use statistics in the same way that a drunk uses a lamp-post – for support rather than illumination,’ said Andrew Lang. Indeed, statistics can be used – and are used – to deceive. However, this isn’t the only reason they can be misleading: inadvertent mistakes also happen.
Since statistics are not always straightforward to understand or interpret, how do you know which statistics can be relied on? Here are some pointers to keep in mind:
Errors in research
Data is the raw material for statistics. Therefore, errors in raw data
