How statistics lost their power – and why we should fear what comes next
https://www.theguardian.com/politic...ics-big-data-democracy?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
I read a very interesting article on the Guardian today. It discusses the shift from traditional statistics to macro data analytics. It is a long article so I will summarize the article and its salient points(there is no way to cover all of them here) then post some questions at then end and finally a separate post on my answers to the questions to distinguish between the article and my discussion of the article.
How statistics lost their power:
Opens with a discussion of how the common man has come to distrust statistics(traditional polling methods and/or data collection) particularly as they relate to economics and immigration. People feel that statistics don't reflect their reality and have come to view the people who use them as elitist. Due to this decline in trust, it has caused politicians to be unable to discuss these statistics and their effects upon the country as a whole(Britain). This decline in trust has caused us to come into the the era of post truth which has been much discussed in the media of late.
Some of the problems with statistics are:
-macroeconomics doesn't take into account local effects and just looks at the "big picture"
-classification i.e. How do you determine what is a good economy, who is it good for, who benefits overall etc
-over simplification of issues
Statistics are being replaced by big data that is compiled through many digital and technological methods that can generate and sift large amounts of data and process it and identify patterns in small amounts of time. Populist political figures(Trump, Nigel Farage(Brexit)) are relying more on big data than traditional statistics. One of the great benefits of this type of data is that it allows for "sentiment analysis" in other words it allows for psychological insights across large swaths of the population and can detect trends and sense moods. The negatives of big data are that it relies heavily on instincts, emotions and prejudice.
Questions:
1. Do you trust statistics? Why why not?
2. What benefits or negatives do you see with the movement towards big data and the abandonment of statistics?
3. Do you think that the distinction of statistics=facts=good and big data=emotions=bad(an oversimplification perhaps) that is made in the Guardian is true? Explain.
https://www.theguardian.com/politic...ics-big-data-democracy?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
I read a very interesting article on the Guardian today. It discusses the shift from traditional statistics to macro data analytics. It is a long article so I will summarize the article and its salient points(there is no way to cover all of them here) then post some questions at then end and finally a separate post on my answers to the questions to distinguish between the article and my discussion of the article.
How statistics lost their power:
Opens with a discussion of how the common man has come to distrust statistics(traditional polling methods and/or data collection) particularly as they relate to economics and immigration. People feel that statistics don't reflect their reality and have come to view the people who use them as elitist. Due to this decline in trust, it has caused politicians to be unable to discuss these statistics and their effects upon the country as a whole(Britain). This decline in trust has caused us to come into the the era of post truth which has been much discussed in the media of late.
Some of the problems with statistics are:
-macroeconomics doesn't take into account local effects and just looks at the "big picture"
-classification i.e. How do you determine what is a good economy, who is it good for, who benefits overall etc
-over simplification of issues
Statistics are being replaced by big data that is compiled through many digital and technological methods that can generate and sift large amounts of data and process it and identify patterns in small amounts of time. Populist political figures(Trump, Nigel Farage(Brexit)) are relying more on big data than traditional statistics. One of the great benefits of this type of data is that it allows for "sentiment analysis" in other words it allows for psychological insights across large swaths of the population and can detect trends and sense moods. The negatives of big data are that it relies heavily on instincts, emotions and prejudice.
Questions:
1. Do you trust statistics? Why why not?
2. What benefits or negatives do you see with the movement towards big data and the abandonment of statistics?
3. Do you think that the distinction of statistics=facts=good and big data=emotions=bad(an oversimplification perhaps) that is made in the Guardian is true? Explain.
