That’s right, if you love Summary Statistics then you’re a communist!
Well, maybe not, but it got your attention, eh?
“Summary statistics” attempt to describe something that is occurring in the real world, but they usually fall short.
For example, the President’s approval rating might “bump” up a few % points, but this is just a reflection of a much more complex change that has occurred in the population. This the actual real-world change is so complex and difficult to understand, there are literally millions of factors involved, so the Summary Statistics are usually considered instead.
It’s not a crime to cite or look at Summary Stats for various purposes, but the more we can consider the entire picture, take a “holistic” approach to our problems, we’ve done ok. Unfortunately this almost never happens, so if you can take this advice to heart – you’ll be a couple steps ahead of everyone else. Summary Statistics have a place, but it’s just as one small piece of evidence to think about when building your website, or to take into consideration before taking any action.
As with any Summary Statistics, attempting to understand that change, and dig into the real-world reasons for why that change occurred is a better place to spend one’s time. You don’t need empirical evidence in order to justify doing things, you make reasonable determinations based on a wide variety of evidence. Spinning your wheels wondering about tiny fluctuations in website traffic is unneeded stress, spend your time writing some content for your website!
Tags: communism, percentage, ranking, rating, statistics, wrong
