Originally Posted by
rugerben
Don't trust stats on either side.
I hated...HATED statistics class in college. It was miserable, and I still couldn't tell you what the hell a Z-test or an ANOVA is.
BUT, the one thing I do remember from that class was that on the first day, the prof told us to never trust statistics because they can be manipulated to say whatever you want. As a demonstration, he offered that statistically, the average person in the world has one testicle and one ovary.
Made things crystal clear.
I used to work for a research firm. Drawing conclusions from stats and surveys is a very tricky business.
Asking the same question in a slightly different way can result in completely different answers.
Some people will answer a question differently depending on who is asking it or even who else is in the room with them.
Stats aggregated to a national level could completely misrepresent what is going on at discrete locations.