You know the saying “garbage in, garbage out,” of course, but just as relevant is “misleading information in, misleading conclusion out.”
I had fun in Sunday’s Monitor with a perfect example of this: It was one of those endless “make a list of state rankings for something or other that will draw attention” websites, this one saying that NH was the second-worst state for millennials.
The supporting data was – hey, surprise! – taken from obvious easy sources (mostly Census Bureau stuff) and not analyzed at all, which is why they concluded we suck for 20-somethings because we have the second fewest bars per capita of any state.
If you’re saying “huh?” then you should read my story by clicking here. It points out the category error that leads to this silly conclusion.
Another silly conclusion: They say the three best state for millennials are North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska, in that order. Hoo boy …