Statistics

The old adage of “Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics” may be true, but I [like] to believe it has more to do with a lack of knowledge and competence than premeditation. Here is what I have learned so far in my quest to avoid spreading “damned lies”.

How politicians poisoned statistics

In this article, Tim Harford uses the distinction put forth by the Princeton philosopher Harry Frankfurt, between those who lie with statistics, and those who simply do not care what the facts are, but use statistics to support their position. The latter can be...

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How well do you see a correlation?

How well do you see a correlation?

We have all read correlation matrixes, and have seen: As a rule of thumb, the following guidelines on strength of relationship are often useful (though many experts would somewhat disagree on the choice of boundaries). Value of r Strength of relationship 1.0 to -0.5...

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The rater in surveys as a source of bias.

As a method of collecting data, surveys have been widely criticized for the biases that are included in the data. When the source of biases are the same for both the dependent and the independent variable, (as in, what is used to explain, and what we are seeking to...

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Want to catch up on statistics?

Statistics as a field is developing fast; and less you use it regularly, one tends to forget 🙂 Coursera offers a course to help you catch up, or learn for the first time.   https://www.coursera.org/course/statistics

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