STATISTICAL EVIDENCE IN DISCRIMINATION CASES

Statistical data and analyses are used as circumstantial evidence indi cating that race, gender, age or another legally prohibited factor was a significant cause of an unfavourable employment or governmental dec ision. This paper discusses the role of statistical evidence in the co ntext of the legal process. Changepoint techniques to determine when a n employment practice changed and Cornfield's approach to examining al leged flaws in a statistical analysis to ensure that they are sufficie ntly severe to affect the final inference are illustrated. The importa nce of understanding the underlying process before deciding on the app ropriate statistical methodology is described in the context of a prom otion case where the routine use of Fisher's exact test, without check ing that the original hirings were fair, can lead to anomalous results .