Implied connections entail a misuse of statistics where utilization of an ambiguous word to indicate some action that will take place or has occurred. Considerably, while reading passages, many ideas and concepts are explicitly stated. The claim or concept may imply the connections between two variables, whereas no link exists. Most studies focus on connecting two variables that do not exist, thus offering misleading statistics. Implied connections use words such as might help, in some people or some studies suggest. The ambiguous words are used to indicate that there is no guarantee or evidence for the claim.
Real-World Examples
One real example is an advertising claim that connects two variables that never exist. I often encounter implied connections when shopping whose aim is to grab the attention of the buyers through optimistic claims. For instance, eating a bowl of oatmeal cereals every morning might improve a child’s ability in school (Christopher, 2008). However, oatmeal cereals do not guarantee an increase in school performance since the benefit is not indeed inferred. The promotional claim uses the ambiguous word “might,” which means there is no guarantee.
Another example is the healthy lifestyle, and weight loss products often use implied connections in their advertisement. Another famous commercial is in Honey Nut Cheerios, with its mainly acknowledged statement, “May help lower cholesterol” (Lindsey, 2009). The statement has no evidence used to back this statement which demonstrates misuse of statistics. No guarantee eating Honey Nut Cheerios may help lower cholesterol. Ideally, the brand tends to support a certain concept without clearly coming out and stating it explicitly. The misuse of statistics leads to misleading promotional claims for products that are only used for persuasions to draw effortful inferences. Implied connections have vague claims since they lack precision or detail and are subject to multiple interpretations since the claims will deceive not all individuals.
