ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author explores the importance of moves of evaluation in statistical rhetoric – what he calls “statistical framing,” or the rhetor’s attempt to direct an audience’s interpretation of a statistic’s meaning in the wider context of the text that the statistic is embedded in. By paying attention to the moves rhetors make to frame the meaning of a number, rhetors and audiences alike can be more attuned to the dynamic process between rhetoric and calculation. Throughout this chapter, the author uses methods of amplification from classical rhetoric and aspects of the appraisal framework from systemic-functional linguistics to analyze statistical frames in the news media. Being aware of the presence and usefulness of statistical frames can help rhetors and audiences weigh how to evaluate statistical information from multiple perspectives in order to make explicit connections between rhetorical moves that evaluate and the statistical information evaluated.
