IBM need help with statistics

Look at this infographic

The way I read this, before and after were the same.
The way I read this, before and after were the same.

So,”Stockholm convinced the skeptics to pay for a faster commute.”?

I’m assuming that means pay for an IBM traffic management system as I’m not exactly sure what was being paid for.  I’m don’t I agree the skeptics were convinced though from reading their infographic. The two key bits of data to prove their point are: “Before: Over 50% say no.  After: Over 50% say yes”

Now, I’m not a statistical genius, but I don’t imagine they’re doing too much rounding on these numbers.  If 60% said no, I’m sure they’d have told us. If 55% said no, I’m sure they’d have told us.  We don’t know how accurate their data is either, did they ask everyone or try for a representative survey?  They may be out by 10% anyway (let’s hope not).  To keep it clearly written,  let’s replace the word “Over” with “About”. Does that sound reasonable? Well it does to me so let’s do it.

Now let’s put the ‘after’ into the same context as the ‘before’. As “Over 50% said yes”, that’s the equivalent of “Under 50% said no”, or replacing Over/Under with About, that’s the equivalent of “About 50% said no”  Let’s rewrite their phrase:

Before: About 50% say no.  After: About 50% say no.

At least, that’s how I read it, but maybe it’s me that needs the help with statistics.


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