People use statistics every day, especially Americans. Local elections are coming up and statistics will probably influence the way that a lot of people will vote. In different ad campaigns, politicians will use statistics like crime rates, unemployment rates, tax cuts, and other numbers to show that they are the better candidate. Statistics are also used by politicians when they poll people prior to the elections to find out how they are doing and to see what groups they need to target to gain the most votes. Schools of all levels, government institutions, health organizations, environmental groups, business, newspapers, journals, and magazines all use statistics.
Statistics is an important yet often unconscious part of our lives.
The information created by statistical means can be extremely useful as long as the variables and terms used are understood by the readers. Otherwise, the information is almost useless. Though the book provided several excellent and perhaps the most obvious examples of situations where statistics are usually employed, I can think of a few other possibilities as well. For example, if I were to consider parasailing, I would first want to know what percentage of parasailers have died or been injured while parasailing. The statistics presented by colleges was important in my decision when choosing a college because I wanted to know about the students at each school.