4 ms·

Are they still presenting anecdotes as established trends?

• 2OEH8eoCRo0 4y ago
  > Antidepressants continue to be the most commonly prescribed of these medications in the United States, and their use has become only more widespread since the pandemic began, with an 8.7 percent rate of increase from 2019 to 2021, compared with 7.9 percent from 2017 to 2019, according to Express Scripts. They seem to use a pattern of introducing an idea with an anecdote and then providing more objective information that supports the idea. It makes the article longer and gives a human touch while still remaining factual. I don't see the issue.
  • karaterobot 4y ago
    I don't know if the information supports the idea. It increased from 8.7% rather than 7.9%? So the difference is .8%, and that's supposed to be meaningful enough to declare a trend and give it a brand name?
    • 2OEH8eoCRo0 4y ago
      I picked one example of information that was not anecdotal.
    • asdff 4y ago
      This is how statistics are used in the press to sway opinion. Authority is granted for those who say things like 8.7% and call trends thusly without performing any tests to see if the findings are even significant. Most people don't know what the word significance means in terms of statistics; the press knows this and therefor doesn't bother reporting it or worse, touts insignificant results as significant by doing this 'eyeball' analysis versus real statistical analysis that can support findings.
  • deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]