Statistical Accuracy Quotes

I have no great faith in political arithmetic, and I mean not to warrant the exactness of either of these computations.

John Chancellor said he could remember a time when arguments could be settled by government statistics. Today, nobody’s statistics can be trusted.

If you aren't taking a representative sample, you won't get a representative snapshot.

Economists state their GNP growth projections to the nearest tenth of a percentage point to prove they have a sense of humor.

Statistics on religious affiliation are notoriously slippery: the government isn't allowed to gather such data, and the membership claims of religious organizations aren't entirely reliable.

I have a theory of statistics: if you can double them or halve them and they still work, they are really good statistics.

I generally believe in polls. Scientific polls are accurate.

According to the latest official figures, 43% of all statistics are totally worthless.

Without the knowledge of the true number of the people, as a principle, the whole scope and use of keeping bills of birth and burials is impaired; wherefore by laborious conjectures and calculations to deduce the number of people from the births and burials, may be ingenious, but very preposterous.

"[My Beautiful] Dark [Twisted] Fantasy" and "Watch the Throne": neither was nominated for Album of the Year, and I made both of those in one year. I don't know if this is statistically right, but I'm assuming I have the most Grammys of anyone my age, but I haven't won one against a white person. But the thing is, I don't care about the Grammys; I just would like for the statistics to be more accurate.

Certainly, last year we did an episode about the census and sampling versus a direct statistic. You just said the word 'census,' and people fall asleep.

I will stand on, and continue to use, the figures I have used, because I believe they are correct. Now, I'm not going to deny that you don't now and then slip up on something; no one bats a thousand.

The more instances we examine, and the more care we employ, the more assurance shall we acquire, that the enumeration, which we form from the whole, is complete and entire.

There are two types of claims: those based on hard numbers and those based on slippery numbers.

I think that could be perhaps a little misleading and even our statistics can mislead people at the times though they are not misleading in themselves. It is just that people get mislead

Well the way we perceive accuracy and what accuracy is statistically are really two different things.

The weaker the data available upon which to base one's conclusion, the greater the precision which should be quoted in order to give the data authenticity.