Re:More than half of adults in U.S. say they lack basic stat...
by roenxi on Wednesday August 26, 2026 @05:37AM
(#49446229)
Its more a foreshadowing of Simpson's paradox and a cluster of similarly counterintuitive effects. Statistical evidence that is technically of high quality can cause decision makers to believe the exact opposite of what is true.
Re:More than half of adults in U.S. say they lack basic stat...
by JumpCrisscross on Wednesday August 26, 2026 @06:55AM
(#49446823)
> Statistical evidence that is technically of high quality can cause decision makers to believe the exact opposite of what is true
High-quality statistics allow themselves to be inspected. When a statistic is being passed around unadorned, particularly with a call to action, that’s no different from an uncited fact being accepted at face value. (Most of the complexity of statistics is in sampling. Most of the errors in statistical judgment tend to come down to misunderstanding how a sample’s statistics translate to the population you actually care about.)
Re:More than half of adults in U.S. say they lack basic stat...
by MattPalmer1086 on Thursday August 27, 2026 @06:01PM
(#49471890)
I think it is rather a healthy skepticism.
Sure, a lot of people will not take their understanding any further, but most do not have the will or the time to do so.
Even knowing mean, mode and median is not enough. You really want standard deviation too. And that is just the basics.
I’m increasingly convinced this is a thought-terminating cliche. Understanding the difference between a median, mean and mode is fundamentally empowering. Enough people, however, will stop themselves from trying to understand that by quoting such a joke.