- Statistics as a language of power: numbers often become an argument in politics, economics, and science. They lend weight to words and create an illusion of accuracy.
How it's adjusted
- Selective sampling: they take only the data that supports the desired hypothesis. For example, a survey in one social group presented as the opinion of the entire country.
- Manipulating the comparison base: they show growth or decline relative to a convenient period. 'A 20% increase' sounds impressive, but if the base was abnormally low — it's an illusion.
- Average values: averaging hides extremes. 'Average salary' can rise even if most people earn less.
- Visual tricks: graphs with cut axes, scales, colors — create the impression of sharp growth or decline where changes are minimal.
- Mixing concepts: they replace indicators. For example, they talk about 'growth in household income,' meaning nominal figures without taking inflation into account.
Statistics itself is neutral, but its interpretation depends on who uses it and for what purpose. It can be truthful if the methodology is transparent and the data is open. But it easily turns into a tool for manipulation if the goal is to persuade rather than show reality.