This is just a funny collection of statistics from Pleated-Jeans, making the United States of Shame. It's a graphic showing what each state is ranked worst at from various statistics. Some of them sound real and based on quantifiable numbers, like West Virginia being the worst place for heart attacks, while some are more dubious, like the "Ugliest Residents" in North Dakota.
It's just an example of how actual statistics (the sources for each state are below the chart) can be used more casually by online entertainers and dispensed to the public.
http://www.pleated-jeans.com/2011/01/24/the-united-states-of-shame-chart/
Unfortunately, I imagine some people reference these statistics as truth. At least New Mexico is only the worst at being antisocial, it could be much worse. I am also surprised that New Mexico is not shamed with DWI, though I imagine we are not the worst offenders (So I looked it up). According to the National Traffic Highway Safety Administration our percentage of driving fatalities due to DWI was 30% as compared to 31% of the combined U.S. in 2011, I guess that means we are not the worst. Also according to MADD (though they are thoroughly biased) we only rank 29th in the U.S.
ReplyDeleteSources:
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/departments/nrd-30/ncsa/STSI/35_NM/2011/35_NM_2011.htm
and
http://www.madd.org/drunk-driving/state-stats/
This was interesting. I looked up Maine for the "Dumbest state claim." The article states that Maine is the dumbest state based on the lowest average SAT score of 1389 compared to the other 50 states. I looked at the link listed in the article, and the data shows that Maine is the 50th lowest ranking (2nd to last) with an SAT average score of 1391. Not only that, but measuring a state's population on intelligence based on the SAT is not accurate. At all. Mainly because a lot of people take the ACT, so the states getting a higher combined average are the states with a few (very gifted) students taking the SAT. You cannot infer anything with data like this!
ReplyDeleteIn contrast, I looked at the study for Ohio being the "nerdiest state," which was actually based on the highest number of library visits per capita (6.9). By following the link, I found a small blurb on the bottom of the page on how this is defined- "Library visits per capita is found by dividing the number of library visits by the unduplicated population of the legal service area." I am wondering how the "legal service area" is defined, and how they were able to measure the amount of library visits. If it was a survey, I would wonder what type of survey. If it wasn't by survey, then I would wonder how else they would find out that information.
This article definitely shows how statistics should not be looked at by face-value!