Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Mathematics/2012 December 27

= December 27 =

List of countries by firearm-related death rate
Hi

I believe that you aren't using the best information available for the page "List of countries by firearm-related death rate". How can anyone figure out stats that aren't compared evenly between the sources. Why would anyone be so inconsistent that you would list the information by different years for each country. If the information isn't evenly available by year for each country, there should be separate charts.

Frank — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.52.161.219 (talk) 15:48, 27 December 2012 (UTC)


 * This is a common problem with demographic data. Comparing data a year or two apart is usually considered "close enough" for comparison purposes. StuRat (talk) 22:56, 27 December 2012 (UTC)


 * The list is supposed to show the latest data available for each country. There are many other problems in making comparisons between countries which have different methods for data collection, so the list can only ever be a rough approximation.  Should there be a warning in the lead?   If you know of more recent figures, please let us know, or update the list yourself.    D b f i r s   23:00, 27 December 2012 (UTC)


 * The year used is not much of a problem unless the numbers change rapidly over time, and this is unlikely unless there is some radical change. What troubles me about the table is the fact that it's using different sources for the data and the number of N/A's appearing. For example one source may be including accidental deaths while another doesn't. Unless you can ensure that all sources are using the same operational definitions for each category it's impossible to tell if the differences are due to data gathering methodologies. Another complication is that different jurisdictions have different standards for determining and reporting cause of death.RDBury (talk) 15:19, 29 December 2012 (UTC)