| Probability and statistics are powerful weapons that can help people make good decisions, but that can also be used to wreak havoc. This paper provides examples of how statistics can be used to mislead the public and result in poor decision-making. Topics discussed include: the use of statistics in evaluating educational institutions, how such statistics can be manipulated, metrics used in outcomes assessment, and statistics and rankings used by students in selecting a school. We illustrate how sampling bias can make these statistics suspect, and how this creates an incentive for schools to manipulate them. This is particularly useful to those looking to introduce a discussion of ethics into a statistics course. |
Updated 03/19/2014