OT: TED Talk On Statistics

[Marshall/Boogie]

http://new.ted.com/talks/peter_donnelly_shows_how_stats_fool_juries

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[RobH]

http://new.ted.com/talks/peter_donne...ts_fool_juries

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God bless you. I can use this in my classes when I teach argumentation and when I teach my lawyers.

[Marshall/Boogie]

No problemo. Thought it might be an interesting OT thread considering that stats are a big part of analyzing our favorite sport

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[Guest]

No problemo. Thought it might be an interesting OT thread considering that stats are a big part of analyzing our favorite sport

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Umm... guys?

The analyzing talk is going on in this thread.

http://www.thepowderblues.com/forum/showthread.php?6300-O-T-Michael-Sam-says-he-s-gay

[bonehead]

:shock:

Umm... guys?

The analyzing talk is going on in this thread.
http://www.thepowderblues.com/forum/...-says-he-s-gay

doh......

[ArtistFormerlyKnownAsBKR]

I'm not a statistician but I work in a data-intensive field and I am surrounded by statisticians. Basically my work deliverables amount to statistical analyses or processes/systems to gather the data and analyze it to produce them. Over the years of working closely with statisticians, I have developed some insight on that way of thinking and that way of approaching problems. This video is very good, particularly near the end, in showing how data can be horrendously misused and with pretty big consequences. Obviously, of less import on the football field than in a courtroom, in a government debate or in a hospital. But every day I read articles in the news and arguments advanced in the public discourse using statistics in ways which are inappropriate and to draw conclusions which are far from on target. In fact people not versed in this world would be surprised how much of conventional wisdom in our society is framed by a misuse of statistical data. Oftentimes the first one to cite a number is the one to control the debate, whether that number is accurate, pertinent to the subject being discussed or arrived at reliably with a good methodology. More often than not, statistics are used to stifle debate. So many people are uncomfortable with mathematics that they don't question the accuracy of a number or even inquire about what data went into the analysis. It's just sort of accepted as fact. There is a certain political party which attempts to blind its audience with a blurring of absolute terms and percentage terms to advance it's agenda. There's a certain global organization that does similar things to characterize foreign aid expenditures.

As we all know, statistical analysis is a growing part of almost everything we experience in our world. It would be nice to see younger generations develop a greater facility with statistical methods and overall comfort with math. And by the way, I was the worst math student ever. it's only been through repeated exposure and sheer effort that I have developed even the faint competency I have LOL

Thanks for posting the video.

/soapbox.

[bonehead]

I'm not a statistician but I work in a data-intensive field and I am surrounded by statisticians. Basically my work deliverables amount to statistical analyses or processes/systems to gather the data and analyze it to produce them. Over the years of working closely with statisticians, I have developed some insight on that way of thinking and that way of approaching problems. This video is very good, particularly near the end, in showing how data can be horrendously misused and with pretty big consequences. Obviously, of less import on the football field than in a courtroom, in a government debate or in a hospital. But every day I read articles in the news and arguments advanced in the public discourse using statistics in ways which are inappropriate and to draw conclusions which are far from on target. In fact people not versed in this world would be surprised how much of conventional wisdom in our society is framed by a misuse of statistical data. Oftentimes the first one to cite a number is the one to control the debate, whether that number is accurate, pertinent to the subject being discussed or arrived at reliably with a good methodology. More often than not, statistics are used to stifle debate. So many people are uncomfortable with mathematics that they don't question the accuracy of a number or even inquire about what data went into the analysis. It's just sort of accepted as fact. There is a certain political party which attempts to blind its audience with a blurring of absolute terms and percentage terms to advance it's agenda. There's a certain global organization that does similar things to characterize foreign aid expenditures.

As we all know, statistical analysis is a growing part of almost everything we experience in our world. It would be nice to see younger generations develop a greater facility with statistical methods and overall comfort with math. And by the way, I was the worst math student ever. it's only been through repeated exposure and sheer effort that I have developed even the faint competency I have LOL

Thanks for posting the video.

/soapbox.

you had me at "data intensive"

[ArtistFormerlyKnownAsBKR]

you had me at "data intensive"

In the Spirit of Sam(TM), I love you too, man.

[RobH]

I'm not a statistician but I work in a data-intensive field and I am surrounded by statisticians. Basically my work deliverables amount to statistical analyses or processes/systems to gather the data and analyze it to produce them. Over the years of working closely with statisticians, I have developed some insight on that way of thinking and that way of approaching problems. This video is very good, particularly near the end, in showing how data can be horrendously misused and with pretty big consequences. Obviously, of less import on the football field than in a courtroom, in a government debate or in a hospital. But every day I read articles in the news and arguments advanced in the public discourse using statistics in ways which are inappropriate and to draw conclusions which are far from on target. In fact people not versed in this world would be surprised how much of conventional wisdom in our society is framed by a misuse of statistical data. Oftentimes the first one to cite a number is the one to control the debate, whether that number is accurate, pertinent to the subject being discussed or arrived at reliably with a good methodology. More often than not, statistics are used to stifle debate. So many people are uncomfortable with mathematics that they don't question the accuracy of a number or even inquire about what data went into the analysis. It's just sort of accepted as fact. There is a certain political party which attempts to blind its audience with a blurring of absolute terms and percentage terms to advance it's agenda. There's a certain global organization that does similar things to characterize foreign aid expenditures.

As we all know, statistical analysis is a growing part of almost everything we experience in our world. It would be nice to see younger generations develop a greater facility with statistical methods and overall comfort with math. And by the way, I was the worst math student ever. it's only been through repeated exposure and sheer effort that I have developed even the faint competency I have LOL

Thanks for posting the video.

/soapbox.

This is all so true. I'm not exactly an Einstein when it comes to math, but I'm quick with numbers. I've had to take a few stats courses as a linguist, and I hated it. But it really helped me to understand what people were saying in SLA research. I always tell my lawyers that they should take a stats class because they can absolutely destroy the other side by knowing what kinds of questions to ask. I tell them that if the other side whips out a bunch of numbers, and then don't have the answers as to how they got to those numbers, it would look very bad in front of a judge. Alas, they don't take my advice, but you can't lead a shyster to water and force him to drink.

[Steve]

One of the other problems with statistics is ONE stats class does very little. I've taken several and even had a minor in it, but it wasn't until I really started to do a lot of statistics in research and teaching that I started to get any feel them at all.