To complete this reading reflection assignment, (1) Go to your personal blog, (2) Click on New -> Post, (3) Title the post Reading Reflection #10: Statistics and Draft Annotation, (4) Select the Category boxes for Reading Reflection Assignments and LIB 280, and (5) Add a few descriptive tags. Remember to respond to all prompts below.
1. Based on your reading of ARQ chapter 10, “Are Any Statistics Deceptive?”, summarize how the following types of statistics can be deceptive. What are some strategies you can use to determine how reliable each type is?
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- Unknowable and biased statistics
- Confusing averages
- Measurement errors
- Concluding one thing, proving another
- Deceiving by omitting information
2. In the following paragraph, identify the inadequacies in the evidence:
Campaigns for national office are getting out of hand. Money is playing a central role in more and more elections. The average winner in a senate race now spends over $8 million on their campaign, while typical presidential candidates spend more than $300 million. It is time for some serious changes, because we cannot simply allow politicians to buy their seats through large expenditures on advertisements.
3. In the following paragraph, identify the inadequacies in the evidence:
The home is becoming a more dangerous place to spend time. The number of home-related injuries is on the rise. In 2010, approximately 2300 children aged 14 and under died from accidents in the home. Also, 4.7 million people are bitten by dogs each year. To make matters worse, even television, a relatively safe household appliance, is becoming dangerous. In fact, 42,000 people are injured by televisions and television stands each year. With so many accidents in the home, perhaps people need to start spending more time outdoors.