[five characters are standing together: orange, blue, green, purple, and pink]
A study shows 1 in 5 stickmen to be homosexual
[blue points to themselves proudly]
Well I am gay, so I guess it means that I am the only one in this group
[green talks to blue, who looks confused]
That’s where you’re wrong
I too am gay, you’re not the only one here
[orange rants angrily at blue and green, who are both confused]
Well I’m straight and this is not how statistics work, one of you two has to be LYING
[purple asks a question while blue and green stare at them]
Okay but I’m bi, where do I fit in this?
[pink speaks to us, smugly]
Well I guess this proves social sciences are whack and can’t be trusted
I love drawing conclusions from flawed data
I am very smart
https://thebad.website/comic/statistical_anomaly


Have you actually read the papers like this? Very often they are qualitative studies with a few descriptive statistics thrown in, and the papers themselves are very clear that they describe only the people they spoke to.
It’s the reporting that goes off the deep end.