On the episode today (February 4, 2010) that featured Dr. Ruth as a guest, at one point Dr. Stork mentioned a study that showed some 70% of women faked their orgasms (I can't remember the exact figure,and will use 70% until corrected). Moments later Dr. Ruth tried to correct the misimpression such a poorly presented statement was likely to create in many viewers: it's not that 70% of the acts of sex any given woman participates in will end with that woman faking her orgasm, but that 70% of woman admit that on occasion--during some acts of sex with some partners at some times--they have faked an orgasm. But Dr. Stork does not seem to have appreciated the importance of presenting statistics in a manner likely to help the consumer understand precisely what is being offered up as statistical knowledge--he said nothing even remotely like "Yes, that's right, Dr. Ruth" or "Yes, that's important to add." or the like. In fact, he ignored the chance to correct himself--and help his viewers--altogether.

Later, replying to a question from the audience, Dr. Stork said "In 30% of the cases" men fake their orgasms. His use here of "cases" indicates again that he does not understand statistics (or does not appreciate the importance of presenting statistics carefully to the public).  It's not that "John," let's say, fakes his orgasm in 70% of the "cases" (occasions) when he has sex with "Mary." It may be that he never fakes it with Mary, but that five years ago when he had a drunken one-night stand with Ms. No-Name, he faked it, so he has put himself in that category of males (30% of the sample questioned) who say they have faked it on occasion.

I hope this point will be clarified on the Website. Of course, I welcome correction of any errors on my part at the same time. Statistics can be confusing, and need to be treated with care--this is especially true of medicine, where being glib about numbers can end up causing damage to people's well-being.