Statistics – Page 139 – William M. Briggs

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…

Statistics

Quack Quack: 25% of Students “Traumatized” By 2016 Election

Headline 25% of students say they were traumatized by the 2016 election, study says A quarter of students found the 2016 so traumatic they now report symptoms of PTSD, according…

Statistics

You Can’t Quantify The Unquantifiable

I stole the picture below from YouGov. A new YouGov study reveals exactly how positively and negatively the population perceives various descriptions to be. YouGov showed respondents a selection of…

spetzer86 on A New Kind Of University: Your Comments WantedAugust 25, 2026
Sadly, you'd never get through the traditional academic review boards and the required certifications forcing compliance with mainstream thought. You…
Bill Hankel on A New Kind Of University: Your Comments WantedAugust 25, 2026
As someone who is currently almost 65 years old, and has never attended college, I'm in! It has been obvious…
McChuck on A New Kind Of University: Your Comments WantedAugust 25, 2026
It's not a terrible idea. It could work, given sufficient determination and willpower over decades and generations.
Brian (bulaoren) on Bad Black Health Blamed On SlaveryAugust 22, 2026
Enough time has passed, since this post went up, for me to feel no need to stick to the topic.…
David on Bad Black Health Blamed On SlaveryAugust 20, 2026
I would also like to point out that slaves often had *better* medical care than their working-class white counterparts, being…