Cherry Picking Data: Learn to overcome this common logical fallacy

[@Grace_Piano]

Another great video Luke! You should really have more subscribers! I liked the real world examples you gave. Keep up the good work! 😊

[@thesciencelens]

Ah you're too kind :) Building the channel is taking a lot of work and sometimes it can feel like a grind, but comments like yours remind me why I started the it so I really appreciate you reaching out!

[@lanep2023]

2 rules I have. 1- What is the time span? Can you expand it into a century? 2 centuries? 2- In graphing data, is the y axis set at zero, or just part of its scale. Non zero graphs can make the mundane exciting.

[@thesciencelens]

Hi Lane. I totally agree. I always encourage my students to extrapolate the graphs that they create. It helps them consider the limitations of their data and think about what could happen if they change the scale of their experiment. Your comment about time spans is interesting, too. It reminds me about William Macaskill's ideas about longtermism.

[@FreddiesLab]

Great content thank you sir.

[@thesciencelens]

Thanks for watching!

[@basicdose.9872]

I love cherries.

[@randharrisx]

Let us say, it is claimed that 35k civilians were bombed to death, 75% of which were women and children. Can we dismiss these claims as a mere drop in the bucket of human population, especially in the larger span of cumulative human history? we can easily counter by saying it's dishonest to cherry pick such numbers and even go on to say such low number of deaths don't amount to much to warrant any attention. Also, we can even go farther and say the perpetrators, historically lost many more, so cry more as you cherry pick more?

[@thesciencelens]

I'm not sure I agree with you that this would be cherry picking data. Can you clarify a little more what you mean?

[@randharrisx]

​@@thesciencelens My point is that accusing someone of cherry picking can itself be a rhetorical strategy. It can be used to evade addressing the actual data or argument presented. By calling a statistic cherry-picked, one might avoid discussing its relevance or the uncomfortable truths it might reveal. This shifts the focus from the data to the method of presentation, potentially preventing a meaningful discussion about the data itself. This tactic can be seen as a form of manipulation, where the accusation of cherry picking is used to undermine an argument without considering its merits. It's important to recognize when this is happening, as it can prevent the establishment of claims or charges that seek to bring attention to factual incidents, regardless of the sampling size.