Misuse of statistics

tendency of people to favor information that confirms their beliefs or hypotheses

fallacy of incomplete evidence

evidence collected in a casual or informal manner and relying heavily or entirely on personal testimony

latin phrase

bias in which a sample is collected in such a way that some members of the intended population are less likely to be included than others

four data sets with the same descriptive statistics, yet very different distributions

logical fallacy

phrase describing the use of numbers to bolster weak arguments

erroneous use of statistical argument when the statistical reason involved is false or misapplied

use of data mining to uncover patterns in data that can be presented as statistically significant

phrase originating from goal sports, now describing by metaphor a kind of logical fallacy or debate tactic

argumentative fallacy

non-fiction work by Darrell Huff

thumb|German Jewish soldiers celebrate Hanukkah, 1916 Judenzählung (, German for "Jew census / counting") was a measure instituted by the Imperial German Army's Oberste Heeresleitung (OHL) in October 1916, during the upheaval of World War I. Designed to confirm accusations of the lack of patriotism among German Jews, the census disproved the charges, but its results were not made public. However, its figures were published in an antisemitic brochure. Jewish authorities, who themselves had compiled statistics that considerably exceeded the figures in the brochure, were denied access to governme

graph that misrepresents data

redirect Data dredging