Instead, the critical attempt to evaluate numbers, to distinguish between good statistics and bad statistics. The critical understand that, while some social statistics may be pretty good, they are never perfect. Every statistic is a way of summarizing complex information into relatively simple numbers. Inevitably, some information, some of the complexity, is lost whenever we use statistics. The critical recognize that this is an inevitable limitation of statistics.
Every statistic is a compromise among choices.
Being critical means more than simply pointing to the flaws in a statistic. Again, every statistic has flaws. The issue is whether a particular statistic's flaws are severe enough to damage its usefulness. These are the sorts of questions the critical ask. As a practical matter, it is virtually impossible for citizens in contemporary society to avoid statistics about social problems.