Andy once heard about a car crash victim who died because he was pinned in the wreckage by a seat belt he could not undo. As a result, Andy refuses to wear a seat belt when he rides in a car. How would you explain to Andy the fallacy behind relying on this anecdotal evidence?

Question

Mathematics

Ryan Case

3 January, 10:36

Andy once heard about a car crash victim who died because he was pinned in the wreckage by a seat belt he could not undo. As a result, Andy refuses to wear a seat belt when he rides in a car. How would you explain to Andy the fallacy behind relying on this anecdotal evidence?

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Answers (1)

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Rowan Greene · Answer 1

You should not rely on anecdotal evidence because of the very small sample size. Since the sample size is very small, outliers end up having a very big weight.

Step-by-step explanation:

You should not rely on anecdotal evidence because of the very small sample size. Since the sample size is very small, outliers end up having a very big weight.

Here Andy is basing himself on one anecdotal evidence he heard. So a sample size of 1. If he were to base his opinion from a large sample size, it is highly likely that 99% of the people were saved by the seatbelt and 1% got hurt. Since Andy only heard the anecdotal evidence, he may be basing himself on a very unlikely event.