Stephen Jay Gould's Essay 'The Median Isn' T The Message

In his essay, The Median Isn’t the Message, Stephan Jay Gould shows that the median will not always present the most accurate results in statistics. This premise is further discussed throughout his essay while his research and beliefs expand as well. In July of 1982, Gould was diagnosed with an early stage of abdominal mesothelioma, and soon went into surgery. Once he recovered from his surgery, he began his research on his cancer, the chances of survival, and the statistical methods used in these studies. Through his expansion of knowledge of his cancer, and the statistics that come with it, Gould was able to grow in his beliefs and how those beliefs could further impact his life. Gould’s feelings towards the science of statistics come off …show more content…
Due to the lack of knowledge on the subject of statistics and averages, or the range of the mortality rate, patients may not understand the meaning of a median mortality. If they do not understand, it would cause the other patients to become discouraged and believe that they would die within eight months. Since the median is not the message, many patients are misled. What many fail to realize is that the message of “median mortality of eight months” is that while the middle value of time before mortality is eight months, there is still a large chance that a patient could live longer than eight months, and a great deal of time before mortality depends on treatment options, attitude, and a will to fight just as Gould …show more content…
His acknowledgement that the median was not the message of the 8-month mortality sentence aided in his persistence throughout treatment of the cancer. Gould even mentions in this essay that another colleague, a statistician, was even surprised to see he was on the left side of that right skewed data. However, through the power of knowledge, humor, and persistence, Gould was able to overcome his troubles with