Assignment 5

Evidence, Analysis, and Opinion
Meets course objective: Be able to recognize proper and improper uses of evidence, analysis, and opinion in argumentation.

Comments

Much like logical fallacies, misuses of truths can sometimes lead to lies. This seems to happen extensively with statistics, legal evidence, and especially in cases of opinion.

Among the most common breaches is the mis-application of data, statistical and otherwise. This is very close to the misplaced cause and effect fallacy.

It is painfully common for observers to look at a set of data, then "spin" that data to match a conclusion that supports their own. These misuses can be very difficult to discern, because they seem to make sense, especially to a person who agrees with their conclusion.

Also, these kinds of misuses can be very difficult to refute because they often involve "stacked" data, that is, data that has been stacked on top of other data or experience. With "stacked" data, the false data uses the truth of the correct data to support its incorrect conclusion.

Misuses of Data, Evidence, and Statistics
Here are a few articles that discuss the misuse of data, evidence and, especially statistics:

http://www.cut-the-knot.org/do_you_know/misuse.shtml (notice the great except from Marilyn vos Savant)

http://members.cox.net/ardipithecus/evol/lies/lie027.html (statistics and Noah's ark)

http://radicalacademy.com/statistics8.htm (an introduction to the misuse of statistical data)

http://www.mail-archive.com/cypherpunks@minder.net/msg46195.html  (a statistician's concern about the misuse of statistics)

Assignment

Note that the common theme in the articles above is the either accidental or purposeful mis-application of information. In some cases, information is simply misplaced or put into the wrong place. In others, it appears that evidence is misused in order to mislead.

For this assignment, please choose one of the following topics and develop a short report that identifies areas in which data, evidence, or statistics are being or can be misused. (In some areas, the abuse is of a speculative nature, which means that data might be misused, or might not. Feel free to join one of those issues.)

Topics:
Banning Harry Potter books in public schools and libraries
Denying the Holocaust
Media images vs. reality of minority groups
The War on Terror
Keeping a new casino out of our neighborhood

Be sure to consider the nature of the evidence, beyond opinion, in your report. Your paper should be a 4-6 page review of the situation, the argument(s) involved, and the area in which data, evidence, or statistics are open to misuse. Feel free to include your own comments about the evidence involved, but minimize your commentary about the issue you choose. Be objective.

This is a fairly sophisticated exercise, since your paper will be evaluated based on the evidence you provide that proves others are misusing evidence. That means you will need to be very careful to consider the quality of your evidence in view of the truth.