<story><title>How to make fake data look meaningful</title><url>http://danbirken.com/statistics/2013/11/19/ways-to-make-fake-data-look-meaningful.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>simonsarris</author><text>A great method for spotting (or at least suspecting) fake data is to see if it follows Benford&amp;#x27;s law. (So remember to fit your fake data to conform!)&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benford&amp;#x27;s_law&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Benford&amp;#x27;s_law&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Benford&amp;#x27;s Law, also called the First-Digit Law, refers to the frequency distribution of digits in many (but not all) real-life sources of data. In this distribution, the number 1 occurs as the leading digit about 30% of the time, while larger numbers occur in that position less frequently: 9 as the first digit less than 5% of the time. Benford&amp;#x27;s Law also concerns the expected distribution for digits beyond the first, which approach a uniform distribution.&lt;p&gt;As one might imagine:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; A test of regression coefficients in published papers showed agreement with Benford&amp;#x27;s law. As a comparison group subjects were asked to fabricate statistical estimates. The fabricated results failed to obey Benford&amp;#x27;s law.&lt;p&gt;So keep that in mind, data fabricators!</text></comment>
<story><title>How to make fake data look meaningful</title><url>http://danbirken.com/statistics/2013/11/19/ways-to-make-fake-data-look-meaningful.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>datphp</author><text>I worked in retail when I was younger. This would be excellent advice for a sales person working with uneducated customers.&lt;p&gt;I was the go-to guy, resulting in a lot of freedom when dealing with clients. It allowed me to do lot of social experimentation, especially when selling custom services (like fixing &amp;quot;My PC is slow&amp;quot;).&lt;p&gt;Explaining the in-and-outs of different options (goal, short&amp;#x2F;long term consequences, risks, up&amp;#x2F;downsides...), then saying it would cost 50$ would usually result in the guy becoming all suspicious, saying he wanted me to guarantee him stuff that I couldn&amp;#x27;t, and that it was expensive.&lt;p&gt;Say &amp;quot;Oh you&amp;#x27;ll need our performance rejuvenation(tm) package, that&amp;#x27;ll be 400$&amp;quot; and the guy happily pulls out his credit card!</text></comment>