Tag Archives: cats

Consumer Guide to Statistics 101

Whether you took or are taking an introductory course on statistics, you probably didn’t get to choose from a dozen candidate offerings. You had to take the specific course required for your major. You can, though, evaluate what you got. … Continue reading

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Dealing with Dilemmas

A decade or so ago, I always feared and was the frequent victim of hardware and software problems. It was a logical consequence of a craftsman routinely pushing his tools way beyond the limits of their capabilities. But the software … Continue reading

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Limits of Confusion

A confidence interval is the numerical interval around the mean of a sample from a population that has a certain confidence of including the mean of the entire population. “Say what?” OK, let’s take it one point at a time. … Continue reading

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A Picture Worth 140,000 Words

Even if it’s been a while since your last statistics class, when you read Stats with Cats: The Domesticated Guide to Statistics, Models, Graphs, and Other Breeds of Data Analysis you’ll figure out that there’s much more to data analysis … Continue reading

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Ockham’s Spatula

Model building is like climbing a mountain. It’s what you spend so much time planning for. It’s what everybody wants to talk about. It’s what gives you that euphoric feeling of accomplishment when you’re finished. But just as mountain climbers … Continue reading

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Grasping at Flaws

Even if you’re not a statistician, you may one day find yourself in the position of reviewing a statistical analysis that was done by someone else. It may be an associate, someone who works for you, or even a competitor. … Continue reading

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The Santa Claus Strategy

I’m working all out Deadline is near Model’s in doubt Dooming my career. Sta-tis-tics will chill my meltdown. I’m adding new vars Testing them twice Trying to find out which ones’ll suffice Sta-tis-tics will give the lowdown. I see the … Continue reading

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You’re Off to Be a Wizard

The process of developing a statistical model (https://statswithcats.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/many-paths-lead-to-models/) involves finding the mathematical equation of a line, curve, or other pattern that faithfully represents the data with the least amount of error (i.e., variability). Variability and pattern are the yin and … Continue reading

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The Seeds of a Model

Perhaps the most complicated and time-consuming aspect of model building is selecting the components of your model—the variables, the samples, and the data (https://statswithcats.wordpress.com/2010/12/04/many-paths-lead-to-models/). Here are a few tips for collecting the seeds of your model. Models Revisited Here’s a … Continue reading

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Many Paths Lead to Models

If you’ve never created a statistical model before, you might be surprised to find that the process involves a lot more than statistics. It’s like traveling. You don’t start by thinking about your transport, the plane, train, or bus you … Continue reading

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