Introduction — Economics STD 11 Commerce — Question

There is an interesting story which is told to make fun of statistics. It is said that a family of four persons (husband, wife and two children) once set out to cross a river. The father knew the average depth of the river. So he calculated the average height of his family members. Since the average height of his family members was greater than the average depth of the river, he thought they could cross safely. Consequently some members of the family (children) drowned while crossing the river.
Similarly, a person conducted a survey and found that the places where there were larger numbers of hospitals, death rates were higher. So, he concluded that hospitals are responsible for increasing death rates.
Another example can be situation when you collect data on birth rate and rainfall. You find that the years when there was higher rainfall, birth rate was high and you conclude that rainfall is one of the causes of high birth rate.
Therefore, we say that statistics are not substitute for common sense.