We depend on data to make intelligent decisions, yet the data we see is often "tainted." An old saying on the use and misuse of computers was "garbage in - garbage out" but this has become "garbagge in - gospel out" as more and more people get in to the numbers game. So, what can we do? Part of the answer lies in education. Comsumer and producers of data with sreious unbiased objectives to get at the "truth" must be educated in how surbeys an experiments work, how good surveys and experiments can be designed, and how data can be properly analyzed. Every high school graduate must be educated to be an intelligent consumer of data and to know enough about hte production of data to at least judge the value of data produced by others. This education must be built into the K-12 curriculum, primarily in mathematics and science but with consistent support and application from the social sciences, health and other academic subjects.
The CAUSE Research Group is supported in part by a member initiative grant from the American Statistical Association’s Section on Statistics and Data Science Education