This is a remix of a bunch of posts. I brought them together because they fit a common theme: Examples that use actual data that researchers collected but still manage to lie or mislead with real data. So, lying with facts. These examples hit upon a number of themes in my stats classes: 1) Statistics in the wild 2) Teaching our students to sniff out bad statistics 3) Vivid examples are easier to remember than boring examples. Here we go: Making Graphs Fox News using accurate data and inaccurate charts to make unemployment look worse than it is. Misleading with Central Tendency The mean cost of a wedding in 2004 might have been $28K...if you assume that all couples used all possible services, and paid for all of the services. Also, maybe the median would have been the more appropriate measure to report. Don't like the MPG for the vehicles you are manufacturing? Try testing your cars under ideal, non-real world conditions to fix that. Then get fined by the EPA. Mis...

https://pudding.cool/2018/01/chyrons/ This example doesn't demonstrate a specific statistical test. Instead, it demonstrate how data can be used to answer a hotly contested question: Are certain media outlets biased? How can we answer this? Charlie Smart, working for The Pudding, addressed this question via content analysis. Here is how he did it: And here are some of their findings: Yes, Fox News was talking about the Clintons a lot. While over at MSNBC, they discussed the investigation into Russia and the 2016 elections ore frequently. While kneeling during the anthem was featured on all networks, it was featured most frequently on Fox And context matters. What words are associated with "dossier"? How do the different networks contextualize President Trump's tweets? Another reason I like this example: It points out the trends for the three big networks. So, we aren't a bunch of Marxist professors ragging on FOX, and we ar...