can statisticians be bought?

[Ling Ling]

we easily trust the results of studies conducted by universities or scientists/ but what are the chances that there people can be bought by a company or government so the results are swayed in their favor?

According to this most published research findings are false.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1182327/

 

[Ling Ling]

we easily trust the results of studies conducted by universities or scientists/ but what are the chances that there people can be bought by a company or government so the results are swayed in their favor?

This will no doubt be controversial because of the subject matter, but worth a listen.

 

[Ling Ling]

we easily trust the results of studies conducted by universities or scientists/ but what are the chances that there people can be bought by a company or government so the results are swayed in their favor?

Here's something else you might find interesting. I know you asked if they can be bought, that's a question that really is about where the funding is more than outright " buying off" IMO, but there's quite a bit of fraud out there.
http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMp1512330?af=R&#t=article

 

[Ling Ling]

https://forbetterscience.com/2017/0...hell-names-and-shames-rigged-clinical-trials/

https://www.theguardian.com/science...ence-leading-statistician-david-spiegelhalter

 

[AviatorShades]

Absolutely, there are a million ways to cook statistics if your readers are suffering from severe confirmation bias (ie every political topic) and the every institution receives some degree of funding from sources that will politely end that funding if their confirmation bias isn't satisfied.

In academia it's more about the surplus of uh "talent" though. If you're trying to climb over 500 other aspiring academics the last thing you're going to do is science which entails potentially sobering realities that offend the zeitgeist or growing demographics. You're going to manipulate things to be "sexy", the sort of destitute garbage that would make it into a TED talk.

 

[kpt018]

Just sounds like a thread where you guys can say “fuck statistics!” To discount anything you don’t like, even if the numbers are solid.

 

[lilelvis]

Yes. Don't trust them, or polls..

 

[FrankensteinMMA]

so why are we still blindly trusting statistics and scientists, when its uncertain if they can be credible sources

Because people find them credible if it empowers their political views.

It also allows lazy people not to do any research.

 

[FrankensteinMMA]

I trust my personal experiences more.

 

[JSN]

Anything is possible. Usually when they run a pseudoscientific propaganda campaign though they will more hire their own experts rather than some underhanded deal with tenured researchers.

 

[Trumpisurdaddy]

Wouldn't be unprecedented. Do people really trust Chinese or Russian statistics? There can be a very large motive to fudge numbers. Similar to cooking the books in the financial world.

So from both a state and corporate perspective this is very tempting. To what degree it can it be done without too much blow back is difficult to determine though.

Often it is better to just cherry pick statistics and use them to draw a distorted picture, rather than fudge them outright.

Like all the studies that take self reporting that always has crazy ass countries ahead of the US in everything.

 

[Cuauhtemoc]

so why are we still blindly trusting statistics and scientists, when its uncertain if they can be credible sources

I'm not?
In science at least you shouldn't trust one study, you need tons of corroborating studies made by people without conflicting interests.

If you're talking politics, it would be naive to trust one single poll, an average is better.

 

[Trumpisurdaddy]

Is that why the Nazi's actually relaxed German gun control laws?

if this is what you call relaxed??

In 1933, the ultimate extremist group, led by Adolf Hitler, seized power and used the records to identify, disarm, and attack political opponents and Jews. Constitutional rights were suspended, and mass searches for and seizures of guns and dissident publications ensued. Police revoked gun licenses of Social Democrats and others who were not “politically reliable.” During the five years of repression that followed, society was “cleansed” by the National Socialist regime. Undesirables were placed in camps where labor made them “free,” and normal rights of citizenship were taken from Jews. The Gestapo banned independent gun clubs and arrested their leaders. Gestapo counsel Werner Best issued a directive to the police forbidding issuance of firearm permits to Jews.

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/365103/how-nazis-used-gun-control-stephen-p-halbrook