Statistics and Empirical Research

Thomas Cleff
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Thomas Cleff: Pforzheim University

Chapter 1 in Exploratory Data Analysis in Business and Economics, 2014, pp 1-12 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract One often hears statements such as these when challenging the figures used by an opponent. Benjamin Disreali, for example, is famously reputed to have declared, “There are three types of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” This oft-quoted assertion implies that statistics and statistical methods represent a particularly underhanded form of deception. Indeed, individuals who mistrust statistics often find confirmation for their scepticism when two different statistical assessments of the same phenomenon arrive at diametrically opposed conclusions. Yet if statistics can invariably be manipulated to support one-sided arguments, what purpose do they serve?

Keywords: Decision Model; Explanatory Model; Inductive Statistic; Symbolic Model; Verbal Model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-319-01517-0_1

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-01517-0_1

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