Editing Misuse of statistics (section)

===Discarding unfavorable observations===
{{See also|Publication bias}}

To promote a neutral (useless) product, a company must find or conduct, for example, 40 studies with a confidence level of 95%. If the product is useless, this would produce one study showing the product was beneficial, one study showing it was harmful, and thirty-eight inconclusive studies (38 is 95% of 40). This tactic becomes more effective when there are more studies available. Organizations that do not publish every study they carry out, such as tobacco companies denying a link between smoking and cancer, anti-smoking advocacy groups and media outlets trying to prove a link between smoking and various ailments, or miracle pill vendors, are likely to use this tactic.

[[Ronald Fisher]] considered this issue in his famous [[lady tasting tea]] example experiment (from his 1935 book, ''[[The Design of Experiments]]'').  Regarding repeated experiments, he said, "It would be illegitimate and would rob our calculation of its basis if unsuccessful results were not all brought into the account."

Another term related to this concept is [[Cherry picking (fallacy)|cherry picking]].