Earlier today I was working out, something believe it or not I do often, and saw a panel discussion on C-Span which included Jim Brinkman, a Senior VP of the Mortgage Bankers Association and David Crowe, a Senior VP of the National Association of Homebuilders. (Watch the video on C-Span here.)
The topics included the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the proper amount of risk the housing system can and should bear, and what the goal of home ownership should be. All in all an interesting discussion, even when it started to get bogged down into the economic minutiae that is common when a gathering of economists occurs.
One comment that caught my attention is something I have heard before and it was offered by Mr. Crowe. He stated that there is strong evidence that homeownership creates better citizens, more actively engaged in their communities and who act in a more responsible way with the weight of a home mortgage on their shoulders. Makes sense if you think about it…renters come and go while homeowners stay put and have a vested interest in improving the communities in which they live.
However, and this is not meant to be a revisit of college statistics, the evidence that Mr. Crowe cites make for a strong correlation, (defined by dictionary.com as the degree to which two or more attributes or measurements on the same group of elements show a tendency to vary together), but not necessarily a proven cause and effect relationship. To be sure, and I think if pressed he would admit it, he is biased in favor of increased home ownership as that equates into more homes being built—good for the people he works for.
Too cynical? Maybe, maybe not. I would say though, that I am involved in my community, care about the work that I do, and try to make a positive impact on my surroundings---and I am a renter. Yet from Mr. Crowe’s comments that really shouldn’t be the case, as owning my home is what would make me do those things, right?
The problem is that all too often statistics, study results, and anecdotal “evidence” are spun to meet the desired result of a particular constituency, thus diminishing the value of the work done by professional researchers and reducing the credibility that truly useful work will have in the future. Now I am not so naive to think that manipulation of data to bring about a desired outcome or support a chosen argument will ever be completely eradicated from our culture, but it should be a goal.
As I like to bring these little rants back to some context for those readers who run companies and organizations, I end with the simple point that research, observation, and experimentation should help guide our decisions and be the catalyst for new ideas and discussion. To confuse, misrepresent, or simply ignore data in an attempt to advance what you have already declared to be the right decision, is not only an act of arrogance but an act that will likely bring irreparable harm to your organization sometime in the future.
Soap box closed for the weekend.
phot0 credit: http://thegoldguys.blogspot.com/
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