Data science ethics: Misrepresentation

Lecture 12

Dr. Elijah Meyer

Duke University
STA 199 - Fall 2023

2023-10-05

Checklist

– Clone ae-11

– HW-4 released today

– Groups posted on Sunday / Monday Morning

Announcement

– Slight change in schedule

– Web scraping moved to Looking Forward

– Spend more time on Statistical Inference

merge conflict demo

Warm Up: Data Misrepresentation

Stand your ground

In 2005, the Florida legislature passed the “Stand Your Ground” law that broadened the situations in which citizens can use lethal force to protect themselves against perceived threats. Advocates believed that the new law would ultimately reduce crime; opponents feared an increase in the use of lethal force.

What does the visualization, published by Reuters on February 16, 2014, say about the number of firearm murders in Florida over the years?

Source: MDSR, Chp 8.

Height

What is misleading about the following visualization?

Proportion vs Counts

What is misleading about the following visualization?

Covid Data

What is misleading about the following two visualizations (from here) that are presented together to show the trajectory of COVID?

In Summary

– Start at 0 or include a break

– Don’t be “tricky” with your axes

– Proportions often tell a less confusing story

– Color and Scale matter

ae-11

The graph

The graph we want