Errors and Omissions

Lies, damned lies and statistics

From the Washington Times:

The Washington Times on May 12 incorrectly reported the results of a study published in the Journal of Family Psychology regarding the percentage of acts of severe violence committed by males on their female intimate partners. The correct figure is 3.6 percent, which is significantly lower than the 7.5 percent of acts of severe violence committed by females on their male intimate partners.

The erroneous figure was 8.6 percent. In cases like this, I really appreciate the Times' policy of trying to explain how the error occurred. Did the reporter mistranscribe the figure? Did an editor who thought 3.6 percent sounded wrong turn the '3' into an '8'? We'll never know.

Anyway, the corrected statistics make me curious to read another story: is it true that females perpetrate "severe violence" on their male partners twice as much as the reverse? Why? That would be an interesting story to read.

newspapers, media, errors

posted by Unknown @ 6/11/2006 09:03:00 AM