There has been a rash of statistics thrown around in the Charlatan’s Op/Ed section recently and, with that, a gross misstatement of facts.
The primary cause of this has been related to the following topics (in order of appearance): the U-Pass, a Carleton sexual assault centre, and Carleton University Students’ Association (CUSA) fees.
Each of the proponents of the groups the articles are about have been making statements to the effect of “80 per cent of the students voted for . . .” This is blatantly untrue.
For the record, each year I have been at Carleton, I have calculated the voter turnout at CUSA’s elections when the referendums mentioned are held.
This has never totaled greater than 17 per cent of the eligible voters, meaning that claims of 80 per cent of students actually mean 80 per cent of the 17 per cent who voted.
This totals 13 per cent of the student population.
Now, I am not arguing for or against the articles posted. Most of the topics do not apply to me in any great manner.
However, applying statistics must be done in a judicious manner. Otherwise, we, as educated people, run the risk of proving Mark Twain’s quote, “There are three types of lies: lies, damn lies, and statistics.”
Low voter turnout is a problem with CUSA, and petitions may be a better way to truly judge the response of students.
There are likely many who are truly apathetic about most issues.
For the university or CUSA to spend money on a vote of only 13 per cent of the active population would, in most societies, be taken for gross negligence on behalf of its constituents.
In conclusion, for any situation requiring the distribution of a large amount of funds, proper research methods must be used and the data must be published accurately or else it can be twisted without proper background.
We, as the interested populace, must be able to detect this twisting, as well as demand better from our representatives.
—Evan Heyes,
fifth-year engineering