Some people love statistics and some people hate statistics and few people seem indifferent to them but understanding statistics is important not only to critically evaluate the messages that we are bombarded with through advertising, media, election campaigns and other biased message sources but also to fully understand the world around us. Statistics are often used to cause fear but they can also be used to engender understanding and put fears to rest. Everyone should be literate in the use of statistics.
Rather than focus on one particular video, I’ve identified three related videos that help to demystify some misconceptions about the world we live in. They touch on different subjects and make different points but illustrate the importance of everyone being able to understand statistics. They are helpful for the general population to understand the world around us and, for teachers, they present some innovative ways to make intangible statistics strikingly visual and comprehensible.
The first video by Hans Rosling on world population growth is informative and addresses a concern that is held by many people. It disassembles the problem and explains the background that brought the world to its current population and then proceeds to clearly illustrate why the population will reach a maximum capacity of 11 billion. His visual representation is easy to comprehend, entertaining and doesn’t rely on formulas or quote margins of error but instead creates a clear visual that leads to understanding.
Hans Rosling on the World Population Growth Cap (16 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LyzBoHo5EI
The second video by Allan Smith shows that people’s perceptions of the world around them (statistically speaking) can be very disconnected from reality. The misperceptions may be amusing on the surface but they are cause for concern when you consider that those misperceptions are what people consider in their personal voting and public policy decisions. If decisions are made on perceptions rather than on the actual statistical facts, you will get policy outcomes and social behaviour that is inappropriate for the reality of the situation. This video clearly illustrates the fallibility of intuition and consequently the importance of supporting decisions with factual data.
The video briefly mentions using isotypes for the presentation of statistical data. Using this visual method of presenting statistics in some circumstances can make the data much more accessible and much more meaningful than simply stating percentages and like the Hans Rosling video illustrates the importance of stepping outside the approach of quoting numbers and displaying simple bar and pie graphs.
Alan Smith - Why You Should Love Statistics (7 minutes)
https://www.ted.com/talks/alan_smith_why_we_re_so_bad_at_statistics?language=en
The third video (another from Hans Rosling) is an artful weaving together of statistics and societal commentary to create a compelling narrative about population growth in the world. It’s an hour-long video that reprises and expands on the message about population growth from the first video and mixes in compelling documentary footage to complete the narrative. It’s an excellent example of story telling and effective communication with statistics.
Hans Rosling - The Facts About Population (1 hour)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FACK2knC08E
There are other similar videos that bring statistics to life and show the importance of having accurate statistical information available to make decisions and illustrate how our perceptions are often very wrong. Together these videos spark interest and revelations about human behaviour and illustrate the power and importance of statistics. They show how statistics can be used to support a story but they can also be the starting point for a story. Statistical results that are inconsistent with our expectations immediately illicit questions such as; What’s going on? Why are the actual numbers so different from our expectations? How were these numbers collected? Is my perception wrong, or are the statistics wrong or biased? If the numbers are representative, what are the implications for the decisions we’re about to make?
Statistics provide us with data that can be turned into information but can often elicit as many questions as they answer. They can be a call to take action and initiate change or they can provide support for an established position. Statistics can provide clarity in a world of opinion and inaccurate perceptions and can lead to a better understanding of the world and society we live in.