Statistics should be interpreted with caution as they can be misleading; they can both lie and tell the truth. Whether people notice the importance of statistics or not, statistics are used by different cohorts of people, from a farmer to an academician and a politician, in their everyday lives. For example, Cambodian farmers produce an average of three tonnes of rice per hectare, which means that around eighty percent of Cambodia's population are farmers and at least two million people support the A? party. According to the University of Melbourne, statistics are used to make conclusive estimates about the present or predict the future (University of Melbourne, 2009). Statistics are not always reliable, but they depend on reliable factors such as samples, data collection methods and sources. This essay will explain how people can use statistics to present facts or to mislead others. Next, it will discuss some of the criteria for reliable interpretation of statistics. Cohesion hasn't really been improved. Researchers, professionals, and others use statistics to prove their claims or findings. Even if statistics are not an absolute fact because the conclusion is drawn mainly from a sample – representative of a specific population subjected to research, it is commonly used as a basis for decision-making or alternation of choice in the daily life, studies, work, scientific research, politics and other planning. The inventor of a documentary film called "An Inconvenient Truth", Mr. Al Gore, for example, in his campaign to educate people about climate change, used statistics to alert people to the fact that everything the world on earth is polluting the environment and should participate in solving the problem. the problem. He collected climate data...... middle of paper ......eptive. It depends on how it is used, collected and analyzed. Therefore, readers should understand what reliable statistics are. Yet, statistics are very important for researchers, scientists, students, employers and individuals to make decisions as well as to authenticate any scientific claim or theory.BibliographyBraid, JH (2003). How can statistics lie? Retrieved February 4, 2011 from N Turfgrass: http://turf.unl.edu/extpresentationspdf/BairdStats.pdfInternational Republican Institute. (2010). Cambodian public opinion survey. Phnom Penh. Rosenberg, M. (2010, 11-17). China's one-child policy. Retrieved January 31, 2011 from About.com: http://geography.about.com/od/populationgeography/a/onechild.htmUniversity of Melbourne. (2009). What are statistics? Retrieved January 30, 2011 from StatisticalConsulting Center: www.scc.ms.unimelb.edu.au/