• @stephfinitely
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    -205 months ago

    This why statistics are so frustrating you can make them say anything.

    • Bunnylux
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      English
      185 months ago

      Well, not anything… It’s pretty recognized that in most cases, median provides a more realistic and representative measure than average for this very reason (outliers).

      • @SpaceNoodle
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        5 months ago

        The median is an average. It’s less susceptible to skew than the mean, the most commonly used average.

        • Bunnylux
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          English
          35 months ago

          Ok, I see what you mean. In my education, average and mean we’re used interchangeably.

      • @Viking_Hippie
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        45 months ago

        median provides a more realistic and representative measure than average for this very reason (outliers).

        Must be a hell of a lot of people earning SO much less than the median wage if the average wage excluding only 1000 out of ~335m is already significantly lower…

        • @Bertuccio
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          35 months ago

          I wouldn’t be surprised if half of Americans earned less than the median.

      • ShadowRam
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        fedilink
        35 months ago

        The average annual salary in Canada in 2021 was $59,300

        The median income in Canada is $68,400, after taxes, according to Statistics Canada’s income survey (2021)

        Huh… seems backwards in Canada’s case…

    • @[email protected]
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      125 months ago

      I lament statements like this because I work with statistics and you can’t just make them say anything. I hate that people use this to dismiss real facts.

      You always have to look at the distribution, which is hard to do well. Simple statistics and averages hide so much detail, it’s often ineptitude more than outright deceit.

      • @glimse
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        65 months ago

        You can’t make statistics say anything, I agree. What happens is more sinister - cherry picking, misrepresenting, and falsely comparing statistics.

        • @[email protected]
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          25 months ago

          That does happen a lot unfortunately.

          Usually people only want the statistics that confirm their preexisting positions and pick at anything else or ignore it.

      • @Carnelian
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        75 months ago

        This is why saying is so wordy, because you can anything make you want

          • @pivot_root
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            45 months ago

            Why -time by say +word? Punct +better.

            • @pivot_root
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              35 months ago

              +word → -time; punct > word

              I would not normally reply to myself but I thought of this after posting and had to share it