How to Lie with Statistics

Chapter 10 serves as a practical guide for looking at statistics. Huff states that this chapter is his true reason for writing the book: giving his audience the tools to examine statistics for themselves. While he notes the importance of insufficient data, he also emphasizes the importance of looking for “sound and usable data in that wilderness of fraud” (124). While readers cannot do all the necessary tests to calculate all the information, there are other ways to discover manipulation. Huff presents a series of five questions for readers to ask themselves about a statistic:

“Who says so?” (123); “How does he know?” (125); “What’s missing?” (127); “Did somebody change the subject?” (131); and “Does it make sense?” (137). Huff clarifies what each question means and how to apply it with examples.

His first question regards the entity making the claim. The reader must look for sources of bias, conscious or unconscious. They should also be aware of entities that are hidden behind “O.K. names,” such as universities or well-known laboratories, to bolster the credibility of the results.

The second question regards issues with the study. This includes apparent biases in the sample or sample sizes that are too small.