A Red Herring Fallacy

question 38

Multiple Choice

A red herring fallacy

• A) assumes that because two things are related in time, they are causally linked.
• B) forces listeners to choose between two alternatives when more than two alternatives exist.
• C) assumes that because something is popular, it is therefore good, correct, or desirable.
• D) introduces an irrelevant issue to divert attention from the subject under discussion.
• E) assumes that taking a first step will inevitably lead to other steps that cannot be prevented.

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Definitions:

Standard Deviation

A metric that gauges the extent to which a collection of numbers is spread or varies.

Variance

A measure of how spread out a set of data is, specifically, the average of the squared differences from the mean.

Compute

To calculate or process information by performing mathematical operations, often using a computer.

Unbiased Estimates

Statistical estimates that are expected to be equal to the true value of the parameter being measured, not systematically over or underestimating the true value.