This paper is from Session 7E: Using statistical literacy in tools for the society
which comes under Topic 7: Statistical literacy in the wider society
Paper 7E1 (Friday 13th, 11:00-12:30)
Towards a Framework for Interrogating Data-Based Augments Perpetuated in Social Media
Presenter
- Travis Weiland (Appalachian State University, United States)
Abstract
Social media platforms are becoming a dominant source for communicating and reifying data based arguments in modern society. This is a significant shift from past trends and warrants investigation. For example, in the U.S. many people now look to the president’s twitter feed for the most current news and policy decisions. In the era of “fake news” it is becoming crucial for citizen’s to be able to critically interrogate data based arguments perpetuated in social media. Based on an initial analysis of a set of popularly perpetuated data-based arguments in this paper I work towards developing a framework for interrogating data-based arguments from social media and discuss the implications it has for statistical literacy and the teaching of statistics.