Category Archives: Statistics

How the Dominant Funding Structure Leads to the Decline Effect (and Othe Stats Problems)

Posted on April 11, 2013 by

Ed Yong has an excellent post about how many neuroscience studies are underpowered (not enough study subjects). These studies are unable to detect real effects, especially if the effects are moderate or weak. As bad, for a result to be … Continue reading →

Posted in Funding, Statistics | 2 Comments

When Data Will Make You Reconsider–And They Don’t Have to Be ‘Big’

Posted on March 6, 2013 by

When it comes to policy, it’s not clear to me that ‘big data’ will be any more effective in convincing people to change their minds, as I’ve noted regarding educational data: One of the themes that I continually flog like … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Statistics | 1 Comment

Two Issues With Null Hypothesis Testing

Posted on February 22, 2013 by

There’a PLoSOne article, “High Impact = High Statistical Standards? Not Necessarily So” that will probably get a lot of discussion. It describes the misuse of null hypothesis testing (“NHST”), which is: NHST starts by assuming that a null hypothesis, H0, … Continue reading →

Posted in Statistics | 2 Comments

A Question About That Democratic Versus Republican Brains Paper

Posted on February 19, 2013 by

So this paper, “Red Brain, Blue Brain: Evaluative Processes Differ in Democrats and Republicans” has been making the rounds. I’ve been skeptical of the ‘political brain’ literature before–which, by the way, led me to defend conservatives. Just saying. My suspicion … Continue reading →

Posted in Behavior, Statistics | 2 Comments

On David Brooks and the Real Challenge of (Inconvenient) Data

Posted on February 6, 2013 by

Someone urged me to read David Brooks’ recent column, “The Philosophy of Data.” My first reaction was, “The man has already engaged in ersatz sociology, I can’t even imagine the atrocities against statistics he’ll commit.” My second reaction was, well, … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Statistics | 4 Comments

Why Technobrat Pundits Drive Me Nuts

Posted on September 28, 2012 by

Well, there are a lot of reasons why, but this takedown of Dylan Matthews sums it up nicely (boldface mine): Matthews, a fresh-out-of-Harvard writer for Ezra Klein’s Wonkblog at the Post, is one of a new breed of journalists: the … Continue reading →

Posted in Fucking Morons, Progressives, Statistics | 2 Comments

Value-Added Testing and “Weapons of Math Destruction”

Posted on September 25, 2012 by

I’ve written about the technical problems with using value-added testing to assess teacher performance before. Note that technical is not a synonym for trivial–these problems are fundamental. The recently settled Chicago teachers strike has made this issue important once again. … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Mathematics, Statistics | 1 Comment

Thoughts on Glasgow and Determinism

Posted on August 30, 2012 by

The Economist has an interesting article, “No City for Old Men,” about the inexplicably high death rates in Glasgow, Scotland. After punching holes in just about every explanation for these high death rates, ranging from deindustrialization to poverty to income … Continue reading →

Posted in Alba Gu Brath, Public Health, Statistics

A Statistical Question About Nate Silver

Posted on August 6, 2012 by

Note I wrote about not for. In reading this Michael Tomasky piece about the electoral college and how it favors Obama (R-Money would have to pull what Tomasky calls an “inside straight” to win), he has very nice things to … Continue reading →

Posted in Polling, Statistics | 6 Comments

And How Does a Human Make Sense of NYC’s Released Test Scores?

Posted on February 28, 2012 by

Yesterday, I wrote about the problems surrounding New York City’s release of teacher scores (more information here). Well, I briefly looked at the NY Times website, which to its credit included error terms (not that most people will have an … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Statistics | 1 Comment