> I am sure there are plenty of people who misunderstand or misinterpret statistics. But in my experience these are mostly consumers. The people who produce "science" know damn well what they are doing.
As a statistician, I could not disagree more. I would venture to say that most uses of statistics by scientists that I see are fallacious in some way. It doesn't always invalidate the results, but that doesn't change the fact that it is built on a fallacy nonetheless.
In general, most scientists actually have an extremely poor grasp of statistics. Most fields require little more than a single introductory course to statistics with calculus (the same one required for pre-med students), and the rest they learn in an ad-hoc manner - often incorrectly.
As a statistician, I could not disagree more. I would venture to say that most uses of statistics by scientists that I see are fallacious in some way. It doesn't always invalidate the results, but that doesn't change the fact that it is built on a fallacy nonetheless.
In general, most scientists actually have an extremely poor grasp of statistics. Most fields require little more than a single introductory course to statistics with calculus (the same one required for pre-med students), and the rest they learn in an ad-hoc manner - often incorrectly.