Skepticism and Statistics

I am probably about half way done this book right now, and I must say that it is feeling like Groundhog Day.  Every chapter seems to focus on how every measure he can find indicates that we as a community are less involved, and our "social capital" has decreased.  He spends so much time telling us what we no longer do (volunteering, social functions, etc),  and I keep asking myself, "What the heck are we doing instead?"  The author did mention that part of the answer may be attributed to increased television viewing, but I have the believe there is more to this. 

This book is riddled with statistics, and this is a cause of great concern to me.  I am always cautious of statistics, because they can often be skewed in may ways.  For example, one of the charts that caught my eye was Figure 35.  This chart shows trends in volunteering from 1975-1998 based upon different age groups.  Over this time, every age group showed an increase in volunteering except for the people who were in their 30's.  No real answer or plausible excuse was given for this statistic which I see as a fault on the author's part.  From my point of view, this chart makes sense and does not necessarily need to be a cause of alarm.  In the mid-1970's, married couples were having children at younger ages when compared to the mid-1990's.  Previously, the book mentioned that when people have children, their likelihood of volunteering and participating in social settings decreases.  It would therefore make sense that as the average age of parenthood shifted, the 20-something age group would experience a increasing trend in volunteerism, and the 30-something age group would experience a negative trend. 

Yet another instance of gross mis-use of statistics was the author's use of a statistic showing driving habits.  He uses an obscure statistic of an intersection in New York where 90% of the people failed to stop at the stop sign.  Little information was given about the circumstances of this intersection.  Was it in a busy part of town or rural community?   I highly doubt that 90% of all Americans are consistently running stop signs.  I do not agree with how this author is using extreme outlying statistics and passes them off as the norm. 

From the beginning, I have always felt like this book was not doing a fair job of depicting the average American society.  When I compared my own personal experiences to the statistics in this book, I was always coming out as an exception to the rule.  As I continue to scrutinize the statistics, I can see why.