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There are several qualities of statistics that are highly important and the prominent absence of these qualities is denting the reputation of the field of statistics (Brown & Keeley, 2008). Statistical data and information should be reliable, valid and relevant for them to be credible but when there are fallacies and misrepresentations in any statistical evidence, it affects the fairness of the whole text. This paper will analyze a statistical text derived from the internet and point out various statistical fallacies and misrepresentation and discuss the overall fairness of the text. The paper will analyse an article written by the associated press regarding the use of bio diesels.
The bio diesel industries have been under attack by some critics who have used some false statistics and misrepresentation to make their point. In this article, the author quotes a world bank report that argued that Bio fuels in American and Europe has pushed food prices up by more than 75 % contradicting another White House report that had claimed that the contribution of bio fuels towards increase in food prices is negligible. According to this report, other factors have marginal contribution and bio fuels are to blame for the skyrocketing food prices. According to the report without bio fuels, the worldwide maize and wheat stocks would not have declined like they have and this would have kept food prices low. This report therefore implies that crop driven fuels are responsible for the food riots that have been witnessed in various parts of the world and rising cases of starvation caused exceedingly high food prices. The article attacks the industry by claiming that it takes food and turns it into fuel. The article claims that the bio diesel industry has reduced the food available for human and animal consumption by 13 percent. This is a fallacy because bio diesel is actually made of oil extracted from crops such as cottonseed and soya beans and after the extraction of the oil, the by product is still edible especially by animals. Secondly, the article misrepresents some facts because most of the crops that are used to provide bio diesel are not food crops. These crops include Algae and jatropha and their usage does not threaten food security in any way. The article also claimed that bio diesel is a pollutant and its usage should be limited to 20 percent. In real sense bio diesel creates 48% less carbon dioxide than other fuels and they also produce negligible amounts of hydrocarbons. The article had called on the Environment Protection Agency and the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality to limit the usage of bio diesels and should the two agencies respond to these calls, they would be acting on falsified information because bio diesels cut carbon monoxide by half meaning that it is one of the most environmentally friendly fuels.
Another controversial claim by the article is that bio fuels cannot replace fossil fuels without exploiting the scarce land resource. The article claims that growing foods for bio fuels requires 10 percent more land and this will strain the already scarce land resource. This is a statistical fallacy because it is possible to grow all that is needed to replace fossil fuels in less than 3 percent of the arable land in the country. For example, Algae can be harvested on lands that cannot support other crops and this would put non arable land into positive use. The article also rises against bio fuels saying that it consumes a lot of energy (Batman, 2101). The article claims that bio diesel is not an effective fuel because it uses as much energy as it creates meaning that fossil fuels are more efficient than bio diesel. This is the worst misrepresentation so far because research has shown that bio diesel produces 4 times the energy it uses meaning that it is the most effective form of fuel because it does not put a strain on energy resources. The only problem with bio fuel is that it is not as convenient as fossil fuels but bio diesel beats fossil fuels in terms of energy efficiency.
This article is not fairly presented because it tends to use invalid and un- reliable information that cannot be easily substantiated. There is no enough evidence to support the statistics that the article quotes while some of the facts presented are self contradictory. These statistical fallacies and misrepresentations seem to be expertly calculated to discredit the bio diesel industry which is posing a huge threat to the petroleum industry by providing an alternative source of fuel. Facts have been misrepresented in order to serve certain selfish ends but it is easy for a keen observer to identify some of the misrepresentations and fallacies in the article since they go against what qualitative and quantitative research has documented. The article does not indicate when and how this research that came up with the statistics it is fronting was carried neither has it quoted credible sources. All in all the fallacies and misrepresentations in this article are quite striking making the information presented by its author unrealiable and invalid.
References
Batman, K. (2010). Lies, Damn lies, and Statistics Being Used Against The Biodiesel Industry.
Browne, N., Keeley, S. (2008).Asking The Right Questions: A Guide to Critical Thinking .NY: Penguin.
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