On 20 Jan 2005 01:49:10 GMT, Wayne Boatwright > wrote:

>On Wed 19 Jan 2005 04:24:06p, Siobhan Perricone tittered and giggled, and
>giggled and tittered, and finally blurted out...
>
>> On 19 Jan 2005 16:28:18 GMT, Wayne Boatwright > wrote:
>>
>>>That's the trouble with "statistics" in general, don't you think? I mean,
>>>when it comes to studying the populace, how can anyone know for sure what
>>>people are "really" doing?
>>
>> That people don't take the time to learn and understand how statistics
>> works doesn't mean that it doesn't work or is inaccurate.
>
>Statistics have their place, but it doesn't always represent reality.

It is certainly true that the numbers can be manipulated. However, most of
the time they represent reality in one particular light, for a particular
use, and seldom do they represent anyone's personal reality. But
representing personal realities is not the purpose of statistics, which is
sorta my point.

It's important to know how much food is consumed in a nation, in order to
plan for stockpiles in the case of extreme emergencies or serious food
shortfalls. It's good to know which populations consume which products and
in what quantities if you're going to be distributing foods in such cases.
this is certainly a representation of reality that has its use.

This information is even marginally useful when presented in an attempt to
encourage certain changes within a particular society or culture. If you
hear the figure (numbers are made up just for example purposes) "the USA
consumes 25% of all the oil in the world had only has 5% of the world's
population", it might have the effect of opening some individual minds to
the possibility that they really don't want to buy an SUV. If enough
individuals modify their choices, then that figure gets modified over time.

However, it is a misuse to try and use such figures to say "individuals
consume X of Y in a year" and expect it to accomplish much more than have
most people say "no I don't". It's just not a useful figure on a personal
level.

--
Siobhan Perricone
Humans wrote the bible,
God wrote the rocks
-- Word of God by Kathy Mar