michigan informatics

Evaluate Your Results

Before you use any statistics that you find on the web, you need to carefully evaluate the following:

1. The publisher of the web site
   The most important thing is to make sure that you are taking the statistics from their original source. If you locate your statistics in the results from a search engine, you may need to execute additional searches in order to locate the original source of the data. You should be very skeptical about any statistics online which are not cited or documented properly. If it is not possible to track down the original source, then you need to be certain that the source you are using is reputable and trustworthy. Further information on evaluating web sites can be found in the Searching the Internet tutorial.
   
2. The data collector
   Once you determine who collected the data, you need to think about possible bias. Health statistics are influenced by an organization’s perspective and bias. These biases can affect the collection device and eventual outcomes that are reported. They also can determine what data are collected and how the data are collected. Whenever possible, read the notes describing the reasons for and methods of data collection. Remember that statistics are collected to meet the needs of the collector.
   
3. The documentation describing the data
   Try to locate the documentation for any data that you are using. Some web sites will provide the original questionnaires, an explanation of the sampling methodology, how the data was collected, and detailed notes on how it was analyzed. Other web sites will provide more cursory information, of which you will need to determine the usefulness. For all statistics, you should look at the documentation that is available and use it to evaluate the statistics that you have found.