Why you should love Statistics- Alan Smith

Say it With Charts - Srishti 2017

(https://www.ted.com/talks/alan_smith_why_we_re_so_bad_at_statistics/up-next#t-116894)

Reflective blog, by Simran Singh

1. Observations and Reflections

• “We can be blind to the obvious, but we can be blind to our blindness about it.” - Daniel Kahneman. The one major point Alan Smith talked about is the lack of numeracy skills in people. 49/100 people do not have basic numeracy skills- which implies that they dread dealing with numbers or understanding fractions percentages and decimals.

• “People are poor intuitive statisticians.”. I found this statement very powerful because our intuitions are based on our own experiences and while some of us experience a bad portrayal of numbers over media platforms and all around us, we tend to assume they’re true and believe in them. This acts upon our own judgement, getting poorly calibrated to what is actually numerically correct.

• We deal with numbers on a subconscious level also, there is an inherent counting track in our heads that we keep about things around us. An assumption, as well eg. How many Srishti faculty stay in Yelahanka?

• Answers to such probes become shocking to us because our perception about these figures vary greatly from the actual numbers, and this disdain is what makes people intimidated by statistics and number representation.

• What can also be taken in surprise is that these numbers always represent groups or plurals and not individuals. People get fascinated to see relatability with these numbers and in such cases like numbers. These surprise elements make statistics powerful..

• Biases and assumptions govern the way we think.

2. How does the data grow and survive?

• Qualitatively representing quantity-

• Numbers can be represented without the intimidating language- fractions, statistics, percentages- all these terms kept aside and rather a visual or literal example to say the same thing instead.

• Statistics, Fractions, Decimals, Percentages are all basic tools for presentation and conveyal of data, and it is important for all to understand these. We encounter numbers in various forms and figures, presented to us as facts or perceptions by people around us and our own sense of observation.

• If this very sense of observation is dealt with an open mind- trying to understand the reasons behind the disjoint between our perception and the reality- the gap can be reduced and our understanding can evolve.

3. Emotions felt

• It is scary to observe that 51 out of 100 people find numbers so intimidating that their judgement over most things is misguided or mistaken.

• This misconception is very common, and instead of taking it negatively efforts should be made to rectify this.

• Numbers surround us from all ends- there is no escaping.

4. Personal decisions that changed/influenced as a designer

• Instead of being intimidated, we should be fascinated by numbers.” Statistics isn’t the science for uncertainty, it is the science for us.”

• I’ve certainly come to realize that numbers have a very visual impact whenever a study is seen- there is a mental map that i tend to draw in my head to understand the direst and quantity of the situation. This can be a very powerful tool to master and apply in all my projects.

5. Ideal Situation

• Instead of being seen as something negative, it should be known that statistics are about the people. The science of dealing with data is termed to be statistics- with data about the state or community we live in.

• A situation where there is a larger fraction of people close with their perception overlapping with the real numbers, would be most ideal because then we would have done our parts correctly.