For many people, the word ‘Statistics’ immediately evokes images of being stuck inside a lecture theatre feeling outrageously bored and, on the whole, totally confused. It is very easy to enter into the mindset that it serves no real purpose. Because I mean, the only reason we really learn about it is because someone says we have to, and we’ll only really need it to evaluate our final project data. As soon as we get out of university we’ll never use it again, right? Wrong.
Numbers and statistics follow us around every day, and we are constantly bombarded by adverts presenting persuasive evidence that their product is the most important thing since sliced bread. Without any kind of background in statistics you may well be foolishly taken in, and end up spending huge amounts of money on things that are ineffective or you don’t need. If the only thing you take with you is to think more critically about where companies get their numbers from, then you have shown a highly useful benefit of gaining a statistical background. Ben Goldacre brilliantly points out in one of his articles (http://www.badscience.net/2011/04/anarchy-for-the-uk-ish/#more-2009) how numbers can be manipulated to present false information. He highlights the fact that this article from the sun; http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3494359/Cops-charge-149-after-protest-against-cuts-turns-ugly.html, quite clearly says that 150 violent anarchists were arrested during rioting in London. However it is not until you read this article; http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/mar/28/cuts-protest-uk-uncut-fortnum, that you realise roughly 138 of those people were engaged in a peaceful protest, and should probably not have been arrested. Goldacre suggests that the numbers were falsely represented to make Police Officers look more effective. A BBC news article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4097077.stm) also shows how numbers and statistics can be misused. An advert for Ryanair, which contained information about flight times, was found to be incorrect and Ryanair were then told “not to misattribute statistics”. Someone with a strong statistical background could (and probably did, hence the article) analyse Ryanair’s data and realise that the advert suggesting they were more punctual was in fact incorrect. A strong statistical background also opens doors to many different careers. Information from the American Economic Association (http://www.aeaweb.org/students/Careers.php#government) says that “Skill with statistics and in managing data will be helpful for many entry jobs”, meaning someone with a strong statistical background would be much more employable.
Whilst statistics may seem pointless and boring when you’re stuck in a lecture and just want to go home, there are many areas where a good background in it can be very beneficial. Thinking more critically about adverts and reports, which may be misleading, could end up saving you money (through not buying bad plane tickets for example) or could just make you feel better (or worse) about the world we live in by not being at the mercy of the apocalyptic articles in the newspapers. More importantly, a good statistical background can also help you get a good career. This shows that the benefits outweigh the negatives of statistics, and make sitting through lectures just that little bit more bearable.
tallesttales 
I liked reading this blog. It made me feel like stats have been worth it and i’m not wasting my time. Although, a question that did come to my mind when reading this was if it suggests people with a strong statistical background do better, where does that leave us with a psychology degree? Let me expand on this. It is still a big question whether Psychology is seen as a science and many people don’t understand what we do in Psychology. Quoted straight from my Dad, he said when telling him I wanted to do Psychology at university, “Why are you doing a degree in common sense?”, which is not true! Many people don’t know we even do statistics, let alone how significant they are in this field. How can we show the world that stats are more than just a number on an advert, or something the media fiddle with to con us into buying/believing something, and instead show them how they are the core of new discoveries, scientific foundations and in general, all research!?
Your post is very informative. I like how you packed it up with the evidence. The whole post is nicely written with a clear introduction and a conclusion. I like how you balanced out the advantages and disadvantages of learning statistics. I agree that stats teach us critical thinking and save us from making many mistakes in real life. They also exercise our brains by forcing us to solve the statistical problems.
Enjoyed reading your blog. There were many good real world examples and how they apply to everyone which supported your point very well. However I feel that although a good statistical background is good to interpret the mistakes of statistics in the real world but surely as sciences it is more important to us to learn statistics to ensure that stats are clearer when being published in the real world so that everyone can be clear on statistics.
Good job!