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Tag Archives: surveys
How to Tell if a Political Poll is Legitimate
Four things to look for. Why People Hate Polls It’s probably true that everybody has taken a survey at some point or other. What’s also probably true is that most people think polling is easy. And why not? Google has … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged bias, frame, jargon, number of samples, politics, polls, populations, sample, sample size, statistics, stats with cats, surveys
1 Comment
Polls Apart
Election season is fast approaching so you can be sure a plethora of polls will soon be adding to the mayhem. Polls educate us in two ways. They tell us what we, or at least the population being polled, think. … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged bias, cats, margin of error, number of samples, politics, polls, population, sample size, samples, statistics, stats with cats, surveys
4 Comments
The Data Dozen
Data can take a variety of forms. Some are readily amenable to statistical analysis and some are better suited to other methods of analysis. When you’re trying to solve some problem or research question, though, you need to use whatever … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged cats, information, measurement, measurement scales, model, statistical analysis, statistics, stats with cats, surveys, variability
6 Comments
Six Misconceptions about Statistics You May Get From Stats 101
When you learn new things, you can develop misconceptions. Maybe it’s the result of something you didn’t understand correctly. Maybe it’s the way the instructor explains something. Or maybe, it’s something unspoken, something you assume or infer from what was … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged cats, data scrubbing, math, measurement, number of samples, polls, population, resolution, sample size, samples, statistical analysis, statistics, stats with cats, surveys, uncertainty, variability, variance
10 Comments
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
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged cats, client, data scrubbing, politics, samples, software, statistical analysis, statistics, surveys
4 Comments
You Can Lead a Boss to Data but You Can’t Make Him Think
The most carefully planned data analysis may not survive the intervention of a boss (or a client or other reviewer), whether well intentioned or not. Your aim may be to generate sound data and conduct a thorough and valid analysis, … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged boss, cats, client, objectives, politics, population, sample size, samples, statistical analysis, statistics, stats with cats, surveys, uncertainty
3 Comments
Ten Fatal Flaws in Data Analysis
1. Where’s the Beef? In a way, the worst flaw a data analysis can have is no analysis at all. Instead, you get data lists, sorts and queries, and maybe some simple descriptive statistics but nothing that addresses objectives, answers … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged cats, extrapolation, information, meaningfulness, measurement scales, model, number of samples, polls, population, precision, resolution, sample size, samples, significance, standardization, statistical analysis, statistical tests, statistics, stats with cats, surveys, uncertainty, variability, variance
42 Comments
Tales of the Unprojected
We have a habit in writing articles published in scientific journals to make the work as finished as possible, to cover up all the tracks, to not worry about the blind alleys or describe how you had the wrong idea … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged bias, cats, client, communications, objectives, politics, polls, project management, relationships, reviewer, statistical analysis, statistics, stats with cats, surveys
4 Comments
The Heart and Soul of Variance Control
You can’t understand data without controlling the variance. You can’t control variance without understanding the data. Variance Doesn’t Go Away By Ignoring It In an ideal universe, your dataset would contain no bias and only the natural variability you want … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged bias, cats, precision, randomization, replication, standardization, statistical analysis, statistics, stats with cats, surveys, uncertainty, variability, variance
11 Comments
Purrfect Resolution
No matter what their area of expertise, statisticians are asked certain questions with such predictability that it borders on the deterministic. No question is asked more often than: How many samples do I need? Most statisticians wish they could answer … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged cats, number of samples, polls, resolution, rule of thumb, sample size, samples, statistical tests, stats with cats, surveys, trend, uncertainty
12 Comments