Re:IQ Estimates by College Major
by zissou on Thursday January 24, 2013 @03:12PM
(#5111886)
Reminds me of my favorite statistical/philosophical quote:
```When one commits to making statements about the average, they may be talking about someone who never exists, but they make very nice statements.```
It reflects on our over used emphasis of the 50th percentile when making statistical statements that are meant to be informative. In policy, the average across a population, or subset of the population, is often used as a form of a "fairness" rule. IMHO, examining other quantiles can be much more informative about the nature of a distribution, perhaps for economic policy reasons.
```When one commits to making statements about the average, they may be talking about someone who never exists, but they make very nice statements.```
It reflects on our over used emphasis of the 50th percentile when making statistical statements that are meant to be informative. In policy, the average across a population, or subset of the population, is often used as a form of a "fairness" rule. IMHO, examining other quantiles can be much more informative about the nature of a distribution, perhaps for economic policy reasons.