"[...] although numbers may seem to be pure facts that exist independently from any human judgment, they are heavily laden with context and shaped by decisions - from how they are calculated to the units in which they are expressed." (Carl T Bergstrom & Jevin D West, "Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World", 2020)
"Another problem is that while data visualizations may appear to be objective, the designer has a great deal of control over the message a graphic conveys. Even using accurate data, a designer can manipulate how those data make us feel. She can create the illusion of a correlation where none exists, or make a small difference between groups look big." (Carl T Bergstrom & Jevin D West, "Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World", 2020)
"Confirmation bias is the tendency to notice, believe, and
share information that is consistent with our preexisting beliefs. When a claim
confirms our beliefs about the world, we are more prone to accept it as true
and less inclined to challenge it as possibly false."
"Correlation doesn't imply causation - but apparently it doesn't sell newspapers either."(Carl T Bergstrom & Jevin D West, "Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World", 2020)
"For numbers to be transparent, they must be placed in an appropriate context. Numbers must presented in a way that allows for fair comparisons." (Carl T Bergstrom & Jevin D West, "Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World", 2020)
"If the data that go into the analysis are flawed, the specific technical details of the analysis don’t matter. One can obtain stupid results from bad data without any statistical trickery. And this is often how bullshit arguments are created, deliberately or otherwise. To catch this sort of bullshit, you don’t have to unpack the black box. All you have to do is think carefully about the data that went into the black box and the results that came out. Are the data unbiased, reasonable, and relevant to the problem at hand? Do the results pass basic plausibility checks? Do they support whatever conclusions are drawn?" (Carl T Bergstrom & Jevin D West, "Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World", 2020)
"If you study one group and assume that your results apply
to other groups, this is extrapolation. If you think you are studying one group,
but do not manage to obtain a representative sample of that group, this is a
different problem. It is a problem so important in statistics that it has a
special name: selection bias. Selection bias arises when the individuals that
you sample for your study differ systematically from the population of
individuals eligible for your study."
"Jargon may facilitate technical communication within a field, but it also serves to exclude those who have not been initiated into the inner circle of a discipline." (Carl T Bergstrom & Jevin D West, "Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World", 2020)
"Machines are not free of human biases; they perpetuate them, depending on the data they’re fed. [...] When we train machines to make decisions based on data that arise in a biased society, the machines learn and perpetuate those same biases." (Carl T Bergstrom & Jevin D West, "Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World", 2020)
"Mathiness refers to formulas and expressions that may look
and feel like math-even as they disregard the logical coherence and formal
rigor of actual mathematics. […] These equations make mathematical claims that
cannot be supported by positing formal relationships - variables interacting
multiplicatively or additively, for example - between ill-defined and impossible-to-measure
quantities. In other words, mathiness, like truthiness and like bullshit,
involves a disregard for logic or factual accuracy."
"Numbers are ideal vehicles for promulgating bullshit. They feel objective, but are easily manipulated to tell whatever story one desires. Words are clearly constructs of human minds, but numbers? Numbers seem to come directly from Nature herself. We know words are subjective. We know they are used to bend and blur the truth. Words suggest intuition, feeling, and expressivity. But not numbers. Numbers suggest precision and imply a scientific approach. Numbers appear to have an existence separate from the humans reporting them." (Carl T Bergstrom & Jevin D West, "Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World", 2020)
"People do care about how they are measured. What can we do about this? If you are in the position to measure something, think about whether measuring it will change people’s behaviors in ways that undermine the value of your results. If you are looking at quantitative indicators that others have compiled, ask yourself: Are these numbers measuring what they are intended to measure? Or are people gaming the system and rendering this measure useless?" (Carl T Bergstrom & Jevin D West, "Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World", 2020)
"Reporting numbers as percentages can obscure important changes in net values. […] Percentage calculations can give strange answers when any of the numbers involved are negative." (Carl T Bergstrom & Jevin D West, "Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World", 2020)
"So what does it mean to tell an honest story? Numbers should be presented in ways that allow meaningful comparisons."
"The problem is the hype, the notion that something magical will emerge if only we can accumulate data on a large enough scale. We just need to be reminded: Big data is not better; it’s just bigger. And it certainly doesn’t speak for itself." (Carl T Bergstrom & Jevin D West, "Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World", 2020)
"There are many ways for error to creep into facts and figures that seem entirely straightforward. Quantities can be miscounted. Small samples can fail to accurately reflect the properties of the whole population. Procedures used to infer quantities from other information can be faulty. And then, of course, numbers can be total bullshit, fabricated out of whole cloth in an effort to confer credibility on an otherwise flimsy argument. We need to keep all of these things in mind when we look at quantitative claims. They say the data never lie - but we need to remember that the data often mislead." (Carl T Bergstrom & Jevin D West, "Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World", 2020)
"This problem with adding additional variables is referred to as the curse of dimensionality. If you add enough variables into your black box, you will eventually find a combination of variables that performs well - but it may do so by chance. As you increase the number of variables you use to make your predictions, you need exponentially more data to distinguish true predictive capacity from luck." (Carl T Bergstrom & Jevin D West, "Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World", 2020)
"To tell an honest story, it is not enough for numbers to be correct. They need to be placed in an appropriate context so that a reader or listener can properly interpret them." (Carl T Bergstrom & Jevin D West, "Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World", 2020)
"We all know that the numerical values on each side of an equation have to be the same. The key to dimensional analysis is that the units have to be the same as well. This provides a convenient way to keep careful track of units when making calculations in engineering and other quantitative disciplines, to make sure one is computing what one thinks one is computing. When an equation exists only for the sake of mathiness, dimensional analysis often makes no sense." (Carl T Bergstrom & Jevin D West, "Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World", 2020)
"Well-designed data graphics provide readers with deeper
and more nuanced perspectives, while promoting the use of quantitative
information in understanding the world and making decisions." (Carl T Bergstrom
& Jevin D West, "Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a
Data-Driven World", 2020)
"Without knowing the source and context, a particular statistic is worth little. Yet numbers and statistics appear rigorous and reliable simply by virtue of being quantitative, and have a tendency to spread." (Carl T Bergstrom & Jevin D West, "Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World", 2020)
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