Do not let the data get in the way of a Good Story
One intention of this blogg is to eventually look at biblical facts. But before that I feel I must cover some ways that data can be manipulated to suit the goals & outcomes that people want to see. I will look at some common problems in gathering and interpreting data. The first method open to abuse is conducting surveys and their analysis.
"Motorists turn to public transport as fuel price bites" "More than three in five drivers are turning to public transport due to high fuel prices". The headline was on the front page of a daily paper in the UK last year.
Unfortunately digging into the survey data which was conducted by a major bus company in the UK (any alarm bells ringing yet)? They 'found' that 61 per cent of car users were definitely or probably considering using public transport due to the rise in fuel prices at the gas pumps.
This story gives the impression that over 60% of motorists in the UK are leaving their cars at home, due to high fuel prices. In fact, due to the wording of the survey the data produced tell us that UK motorists are not necessarily doing anything. They are "definitely or probably" thinking about doing something, which in the future they might do. How often they will do it, if they ever do it at all is anyone's guess.
In my next post I will discuss the lessons we can derive about surveys......