We use statistics every day, knowingly or unknowingly. Statistics is an important tool as it is often used to analyse the ever-changing situations around us. Every few seconds, a life is lost to disease; every day, several thousand people die in car accidents; every year, millions of babies are born. Many believe that statistics prove nothing. However, there is no doubt that statistics is an oracle that gives us much insight.
Statistics are important because we never stop going back to statistics to ‘prove’ our points in arguments. It plays an integral role in that particular area as we consider facts as truths that cannot be argued against and we consider statistics as facts. For example, if we compare the results of two different schools in a national exam, obviously we have proven that the school with a higher average score does have a higher average score than the other school. What statistics do, in this case, is to prove a fact is, in fact, a fact and that is all. What it does not, or cannot do is to prove that school A will always do better than school B in national examinations for example. If school B does better than school A in the following year, the statistics only prove that school A beat school B in the first year and the opposite in the second year.
The statistics reassure us. Statistics show that most people in Singapore live past the age of 70 years at least. This fact assures people that they still have time to do what they want to do, time to find a relationship perhaps, start a business or maybe travel the world. Critics might suggest that statistics prove that we will be one of those people who live past 70. But that argument is flawed in itself. If we take precautions and lead reasonable lifestyles, it is possible for us to be part of the statistics. Actuarial science provides much statistical data to insurers to ensure that they run a profitable business. That proves itself that statistics measures and proves general lifespans.
Statistics measure everything that can be measured – the number of people in a country, each person’s height, the number of accidents that occur in a period of time, the number of times our heartbeats per minute and so on. But critics opine that statistics cannot measure feelings and emotions, selflessness or selfishness. One could say that the critics have a weak understanding of statistics. With statistics, we can determine patterns of behaviour in society and we can study them. Statistics alone really prove nothing but statistics with some level of inference can give us insights into the world around us. If we were to use statistics blindly, we would be running into some very serious problems as a society. Just because certain prisons in the US have a greater number of ‘blacks’ or ‘Latinos’ in their prisons does not prove that these races have a higher tendency of becoming criminals. Unchecked, such ideas could worsen into even more severe racial discrimination. Many nowadays, troublemakers especially, use statistics as a means to distort the truth. There is much value statistics can bring, and if used correctly, statistics can prove regression, deviation, reliability and validity of the information.
Everything that can be quantified is quantified or at least being quantified. We turn to statistics to prove our theories of the world around us in an attempt to have a better understanding of our surroundings. We use statistics to justify the impact on surveys, business operations and even obscure issues like best ice-cream flavour. Statistics are a useful measuring tool and has provided significant evidence for issues that we seek insights and opportunities for remediation.