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 Friday, December 07, 2007

Lies, Damned Lies, And Statistics

The 3 most important caveats to be aware of when dealing with statistics:

  • Correlation does not imply causation.
  • You can make statistics tell you nearly anything you want.
  • Statistics without proper context are meaningless.
#    Comments [2] |
Monday, December 10, 2007 12:21:15 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
These seem to be pretty self-evident, but can you provide references to back up these truisms?

regards
Ben
Ben | benAT NOSPAMfluidlogic dot org
Monday, December 10, 2007 12:29:24 PM (Eastern Standard Time, UTC-05:00)
> These seem to be pretty self-evident

Perhaps they are self-evident to some, but not to most. Statistics is a very misunderstood are for a lot of people. As a performance engineer, I use statistics a lot and I see these mistakes *so* often.

.. used out of context
.. implying causation
.. etc

there are no references. this is my own lost of the 3 most important truisms to remember.
Corey
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