Statistics vs Anecdotes

Discussions center on the tension between statistical evidence and personal anecdotes, including critiques of statistical misuse, misunderstandings, and phrases like 'lies, damn lies, and statistics.'

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#2493
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Keywords

VP HN wiktionary.org FWIW MBA DAU en.m MAU wikipedia.org statistics lies statistical enlighten counties lie likely graphs provided data

Sample Comments

rosser • Sep 26, 2014 • View on HN

Statistics often don't conform to one's anecdotal expectations.

caffeine • Jun 24, 2009 • View on HN

The statistics is completely wrong - and the conclusion is (probably) completely right...

RhodesianHunter • Jun 29, 2023 • View on HN

Statistics matter, anecdotes do not.

rezonant • Feb 7, 2023 • View on HN

Welp, statistics say otherwise :-)

cjensen • May 14, 2019 • View on HN

That's not how statistics work. Perhaps you were making a joke?

bryanrasmussen • Aug 4, 2019 • View on HN

statistics? People who should know have told me otherwise

travoltaj • Jan 11, 2023 • View on HN

The good old "Statistics don't apply to an individual"

jopsen • Sep 30, 2017 • View on HN

statistics doesn't always apply on a personal level, it's statistics :)

thereddaikon • Aug 31, 2023 • View on HN

Give me some authoritative statistics that show otherwise.

hn_throwaway_99 • Mar 10, 2019 • View on HN

That analogy is bad statistics, and I think we should call out those bad statistics, especially on HN.