"There are three types of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics."
Benjamin Disraeli, British Statesman (1804-1881)
Statistics is the study of a set of numbers or measurements; including: the collection, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of the data. It is applied in various Areas of Knowledge, mainly as a form of clarification or emphasis of an idea. For example, in my TOK presentation, I was trying to convey sympathetic emotions within the audience towards the African population suffering from AIDS. But I would not be able to do that unless I supported myself with shocking statistics, whether or not they are true wouldn't really matter to me.
Statistics is a branch often related to uncertainty, or logical incoherence. It does not necessarily reflect truth. The results can be manipulated to support the researcher's idea, therefore be biased. For any idea to be classified as a "knowledge" it has to be a justified true belief. Belief is in our hands. We might......
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