October 14, 2013

Stat of the Week Competition Winner: October 5 – 11 2013

While Ruatara Paapu’s entry was the only nomination last week in our Stat of the Week competition, it is still a worthy winner.

Auckland Councillor Cameron Brown put out a press release entitled: “68% percent [sic] of Aucklanders wanted berm mowing continued”.

However, this statistic is rather misleading – it’s 68% of those who made a submission on berm mowing, not 68% of Aucklanders.

Congratulations Rutara and keep those nominations coming in!

Comments

  • avatar
    Steve Black

    Excuse the late comment, but isn’t it even less clear? Since submissions can usually be made by groups or individuals isn’t it 68% of submissions rather than “those who made a submission”? We’re counting submissions not people. I took that to be part of how bogus a statistic it really is. Wrong units reported for the denominator as well as a self selected sample.

    11 years ago

    • avatar
      Thomas Lumley

      Yes, it’s even more bogus than it first appears.

      11 years ago

    • avatar
      Rachel Cunliffe

      Excellent point, thanks Steve.

      11 years ago