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A comment on More than half of adults in U.S. say they lack basic statistical understanding. Parent comment

Re:More than half of adults in U.S. say they lack basic stat... by red75prime on Wednesday August 26, 2026 @03:02AM (#49445049)
> I did however learn enough to know that statistics can tell you absolutely anything you want them to say.

When told to a statistically illiterate person who isn't aware of Simpson's paradox and so on?

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Re:More than half of adults in U.S. say they lack basic stat... by selcuka on Wednesday August 26, 2026 @03:07AM (#49445084)
> When told to a statistically illiterate person?

Which is a rounding error from 100% according to the GP.

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Re:More than half of adults in U.S. say they lack basic stat... by red75prime on Wednesday August 26, 2026 @03:46AM (#49445360)
That's obvious. I just hope the OP doesn't end up with the same expression as Anakin in the Anakin-and-Padme meme after this question.
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Re:More than half of adults in U.S. say they lack basic stat... by Tarq0n on Wednesday August 26, 2026 @04:53AM (#49445830)
Being aware of Simpsons' paradox doesn't even help. There's no way of knowing what the right level of aggregation is without a theory.
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Re:More than half of adults in U.S. say they lack basic stat... by NooneAtAll3 on Wednesday August 26, 2026 @06:43AM (#49446735)
speaking of theory, what exactly is the solution to this paradox?

what happens when data just russian-dolls in both directions the deeper you look?

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Re:More than half of adults in U.S. say they lack basic stat... by duskdozer on Wednesday August 26, 2026 @07:11AM (#49446944)
When I have seen instances of this, it's usually because there is another variable. Example from wikipedia:

>A common example of Simpson's paradox involves the batting averages of players in professional baseball. It is possible for one player to have a higher batting average than another player each year for a number of years, but to have a lower batting average across all of those years. This phenomenon can occur when there are large differences in the number of at bats between the years.

The per-year values aren't weighted in the combined total average.

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