http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: Go figure: Why nothing is really news at all en Sun, 31 May 2026 21:01:46 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5930#post-63433 Fri, 30 Mar 2012 12:45:31 +0000 wingpig 63433@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>One of the television programmes we were shown in primary school provided a basic introduction to the need to develop a mistrust of statistics, with one particularly sticky example citing that sales of an imaginary unpleasant confection were increasing exponentially in the large blue area covering most of the area of the selected map, with just the little green area on the far right still resisting, the little green area being the UK and the big blue area being the Atlantic. Biology and chemistry teachers in secondary school threw in a lot of unpicking correlation/causation and the importance of determining the statistical significance of things, seeing as it didn't seem to be covered by anyone else. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5930#post-63430 Fri, 30 Mar 2012 11:56:36 +0000 kaputnik 63430@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Radio 4 does a 15-minute "look behind the statistics" show called <em>More or Less</em>. They do great, easily understandable analysis of key stories and facts from the week and are generally able to pull most of them apart and rubbish most things that come out of the mouths of cabinet ministers! </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5930#post-63410 Fri, 30 Mar 2012 09:29:30 +0000 Darkerside 63410@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>An article on BBC News Scotland irritated me last night. Dramatic headlines of 'Only 17% of university entrants from poorest homes'. </p> <p>And? </p> <p>In my mind poorest describes the extremity (call it those in the bottom 10% of income), so managing to get 17% of overall entrants from 10% of homes would be a great success story. I can only assume that the actual figures were that only 17% came from the bottom half of the income scale (in which case there is a problem), but then the use of the word poorest is deliberately misleading. It would be the same as telling someone earning £21k that they were one of the richest in the UK (based on 2009 median).</p> <p>Gtumble, grumble... </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=5930#post-63404 Fri, 30 Mar 2012 09:05:53 +0000 amir 63404@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17434638" rel="nofollow">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17434638</a></p> <p>This may seem not too have any direct relevance to cycling, but, as we have seen so many times, a good understanding of statistics is key to the cycling debate. </p>