How to defend yourself against misleading statistics in the news | Sanne Blauw | TEDxMaastricht

Numbers are being used every day. In the news, in politics, in our jobs, and even in our social interactions. They are used to convince, explain, but also to deflect from what is truly happening. Too often, numbers appear as abstract, objective and difficult. Sanne Blauw’s mission is to make the world of numbers accessible to all.

Sanne has broken most stereotypes about someone interested in mathematics throughout her life. From working at the OECD, to being a member of her University Council, to becoming a journalist. Sanne is far more than what most people would expect from a person with a PhD in econometrics. She strives to convince all of us to second-guess the numbers that shape our worldview. This talk is a must for all who work in journalism.


Sanne Blauw is journalist for De Correspondent. She obtained a PhD degree in econometrics at the Tinbergen Institute and the Econometric Institute of the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Using various quantitative methods, she combined applied micro-econometrics, psychology and development economics. Sanne is convinced that a better understanding of statistics would make the world a better place.

[monicabello]

Great speech. She just told the truth and the audience was disappointed 'couse peoples prefer false certainties vs. uncertain truths.

[harshitjuneja]

Who else thinks that the audience was very unresponsive and she deserved better?

[chrismiller]

My high school civics teacher said, "Figures don't lie but liars do figure".

[sigh]

5 lies:
1. 3:51
2. 5:24
3. 7:26
4. 10:00
5. 12:10

[craigdaubbeats-rapinstrume]

It's always important to look at how the data was collected.

[florencegomer]

Beware of numbers versus percentages. Local hospital was highly criticised for going several million over budget. Turns out, compared to the annual budget, the overspend was the equivalent of less than ten hours spending.

[prakashdevendra]

Good presentation. She also tried to blend some humor there. Alas! Audience were never engaged.

[lindseyreames]

She spoke a lot about how you grab information at what we can see or the headline without second-guessing. I learned that most people will alter the way they present their data by their own personal stance or benefit. I am someone who will read something and automatically believe it because hello people should be giving out the correct information. But over the past 8 years, I have had to really stop taking people's word at face value. I learned in this video to double-check where they got their information, their source, or what they put in the questionnaire is more important than the title they posted to get views.

[Weatherman]

Her presentation was excellent! I don’t know why the audience was so dry, but I wish she would have the chance to do her presentation at another TED location. Outstanding job on her part.

[Ziontrainism]

Looked like half the audience didn't raise their hand on the TED question lol

[Wyzard]

This is why critical thinking is important.

[DLewis-ktok]

Don’t worry about the crowd not being responsive; one tends to be that way when in awe.

[lwiqxst]

1.Statistics are more involved in making choices in our daily lives than we think. Therefore, we must look at the statistics carefully


2. Because statistical graphs are easy to manipulate, the source of these figures should be investigated.

3. Statistics can change over time because a lot of information is gathered and extracted

4. When interpreting statistical data, consider whether there were other events at the time of the event for that subject.

5.Misinterpretation of statistics can hurt others. Therefore, we should look at the statistics from a critical perspective.

[addisonbyrd]

Wow so good! Taking stats in grad studies and this was fun to watch - and eye opening..

[NadiaMuhina]

Fantastic presentation! Great performance! Thank you Sanne!

[SilentRio]

Thank you. Very good introductory talk help us better see and arm ourselves with critical thinking skills to help defend us against the damned lies held in some media driven statistical data.
Thought the ending was good too and needed saying. Brave woman.

[Necrostrike]

What a bad audience, this was a great presentation and they were so dry.

[stephenpowstinger]

I took statistics many years ago and also read a book on how statistics can deceive. I found the subject to be more interesting than the usual dry math course.

[jonaskoelker]

I noticed something. She presented two data sets about drug offenses/use grouped by ethnicity. Let's call the data sets A and B. She then argued that since we have data set B which disagrees with data set A, we should really question the immediate surface interpretation of A. I can't think of a reason not to do it in the other direction as well: given that we have data set A, we should really question data set B as well. Unless of course exactly one of the data sets agrees with our preconceived notions, in which case we should just dismiss the data we don't like :P

[ladyblue]

She is amazing, such a professional in spite of the feedback she's receiving. Perhaps the quiz to see if anyone knew what Technology, Entertainment, Design meant rubbed them the wrong way🙄