200 years of data

I recently came across an interesting article on data which illustrates the "Smart" analysis I describe in my book.

The article is from Our Word In Data and called The short history of global living conditions and why it matters that we know it.

First, let's look at what is not in the presentation of the data. Statistical methods? Nope. Simulations? Nope (beyond one chart). Small sample sizes leading to strange conclusions? Nope. Percents used to inflate results? Nope.

So what did the authors do? As far as I can tell, the authors did a textbook (or at least my book) confirm the analysis. They started with a question "Is the world getting better?". Then they gathered data which would answer that question. They then just put that data into charts.

The scope of the data and the effort it must have taken to encode, clean, and preserve that data over time is somewhat astounding. Sort of a testament to human accomplishment and desire to know more about the world, if you ask me. And good on Our World in Data for doing the work to bring that all together. The analysis itself though is simple, with only a few elements in each. The analysis takes a large sample, presents the data simply, and doesnt screw with it. By using this approach, the authors let the data, and all the effort that already went into it, do the heavy lifting. They do a "Smart" analysis.

I do think the authors use a bit of a strawman argument by assuming that participants who answered the question they try to debunk -- “All things considered, do you think the world is getting better or worse, or neither getting better nor worse?”-- were talking about the current world vs the one 200 years ago, and were just ignorant of the facts. Any reasonable interpretation of that question as it is presented there, in the current world climate, would assume a smaller timeframe. But I think I get the point the author is trying to make. As the author says: To achieve a representation of how the world has changed at large you have to tell many, many stories all at once; and that is statistics. In other words, some things you just can't do at the micro level, you have to look at a bunch of data and make a decision. And the authors do an excellent job of presenting such data here.

If you are interested in more data, current issues, or life, in general, I recommend taking a look at the site. They are doing great work and making the world a better place with that work. Happy Analyzing.