Difference between revisions of "Cherry picking"
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
(male-female birth ratios between 1970 and 1990) |
|||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| − | '''"Cherry picking"''' is the practice of collecting data which supports your point while systematically ignoring all contradictory data. This is a blatant violation of the [[scientific method]] and among scientists is generally considered to be unethical (see [[scientific misconduct]]). | + | '''"Cherry picking"''' is the practice of collecting data which supports your point while systematically ignoring all contradictory data. This is a blatant violation of the [[scientific method]] and among scientists is generally considered to be unethical (see [[scientific misconduct]] and [[advocacy science]]). |
A political example occurred in the 1990s, when the "[[black church burning epidemic]]" captured headlines: | A political example occurred in the 1990s, when the "[[black church burning epidemic]]" captured headlines: | ||
Revision as of 15:36, July 29, 2010
"Cherry picking" is the practice of collecting data which supports your point while systematically ignoring all contradictory data. This is a blatant violation of the scientific method and among scientists is generally considered to be unethical (see scientific misconduct and advocacy science).
A political example occurred in the 1990s, when the "black church burning epidemic" captured headlines:
- The CDR had systematically ignored fires set by blacks and those that occurred in the early part of the decade; it had also labeled some fires as arson that clearly were not — all in an apparent effort to make black church torchings appear to be an escalating phenomenon.[1]
Even science journals have been fooled:
- Consider a report by three environmentalist authors back in 1998 in Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), analyzing male-female birth ratios between 1970 and 1990. The authors found male births declining, and predictably blamed man-made chemicals. Yet public data going back to 1940 showed gender ratios are always changing, for no obvious reason. Years that disproved their thesis were simply sliced out.[2]