Statistics – Page 134 – William M. Briggs

Biostatisticians: They Asked Us To Lie!

The paper is "Researcher Requests for Inappropriate Analysis and Reporting: A U.S. Survey of Consulting Biostatisticians" by Min Qi Wang, Alice F. Yan, and Ralph V. Katz in Annals of…

Class Statistics

How To Do Predictive Statistics: Part X: Survival Analysis

Query: now that I'm a video master, would people like videos of these lessons? I don't see how they'd help much, but who knows. Let me know below or via…

Statistics

Some Curious Results In World Poverty Rates — With Update People Say They Want (But Don’t)

The tweet above is from Human Progress. Thanks to @WrathofGnon for the tip. It shows the number of people by region who live "in poverty". It is a stacked line…

Philosophy Statistics

Next Time Somebody Asks You “What’s the Probability of X” Say This — Crucial Update!

Next time somebody asks you "What's the Probability of X", where X is any proposition, say this: there is no such probability. It doesn't exist. "Briggs, what's the probability of…

Statistics

Making P-values Weer To Achieve Significance Won’t Help

Mini-paper out in JAMA by Matt Vassar and pals: "Evaluation of Lowering the P Value Threshold for Statistical Significance From .05 to .005 in Previously Published Randomized Clinical Trials in…

Class Statistics

The Controversy Over Randomization And Balance In Clinical Trials

There was a paper a short while back, "Why all randomised controlled trials produce biased results", by Alexander Krauss, in the Annals of Medicine. Raised some academic eyebrows. Krauss says,…

Culture Statistics

An Illustration Of Type I Scientism

Regular readers will recall there are two Types of Scientism. Type I is belief that Science is needed to verify commonplace truths. Type II is the belief that only Science…

Statistics

Black Coffee Drinkers Are Sadistic Psychos: It’s Science!

Headline New study says you might be a psychopath if you like black coffee A new study from the University of Innsbruck in Austria says that people who drink their…

C-Marie on Blessed Memorial Day; No Class; See You WednesdayMay 24, 2026
God bless you, dear Matt, and all yours, all the days, and thank you for your faithfulness to our Father,…
spaceranger on Why There Are (Probably) No UFOs: “Climate Change”May 22, 2026
Two things I can never figure out are UFO pictures and police body cam videos.
Dave Narby on Why There Are (Probably) No UFOs: “Climate Change”May 22, 2026
There's been some pretty clear ones lately, at least to the resolution of the camera used, e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcEEXLOORLI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zkZ3x1T0QU This…
James on Why There Are (Probably) No UFOs: “Climate Change”May 22, 2026
The same logic applies to the phenomenon of "ball lightning". It sounds credible, but there are no photos of it…
Uncle Mike on Blessed Memorial Day; No Class; See You WednesdayMay 21, 2026
Please enjoy your well-earned respite. Warmth is indeed a boon and blessing -- it's in the eighties here today and…