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4 days ago · Overall, we rate RationalWiki as Left-Center biased based on the use of loaded language against conservatives and High for factual reporting due to pro-science reporting coupled with proper sourcing and a clean fact-check record.
- Topics in Statistics
- The Misunderstanding of Statistics
- The Misuse of Statistics
- Manipulation
- How to Evaluate A Statistic
- Statistics and Evil
- See Also
Average
A measure of wherethe data points as a whole are, many times summarizing (and sometimes oversimplifying) the data set. Does not describe the variance of the data set.
Standard deviation
A standard measure of how spread out the data is. Standard deviation follows the empirical rule. Assuming a normal distribution, the rule states that one standard deviation away from the mean (in either direction) will encompass 68% of the data, two deviations in either direction will encompass ~95% of the data, and three deviations away from the mean will encompass ~99.7% of the data in question.
Sample size
The number of observations/events that are being evaluated in a data set. Larger sample sizes are more representative of it's
A common problem is a misunderstanding of what a statistic actually means. For example, life expectancy is often confused with maximum life span as seen in the In the Search of... episode "The Man Who Would Not Die" (About Count of St. Germain) where it is stated "Evidence recently discovered in the British Museum indicates that St. Germain may hav...
This problem has become much greater in modern times because more data is available. If you're looking for a statistic to support your argument you can often find one, even if it's partial, selective, out-of-date or invented. It's also the case that statistical software packages are available that do all the math for researchers. This leads to the ...
While many people are familiar with "cooking" statistical data after it is gathered there are other ways to manipulate the data. In surveys how you ask the question can change the outcome. Changing one word in a question can produce totally different results (using "allow" verses "forbid" for example). Even the order questions are asked can change ...
One of the first things to do is find out just how a particular statistic works i.e. what does it actually measure, and what are its limits. For example both radiocarbon and palaeography dating are "normal distribution" curves ie they are bell shaped and follow the 68–95–99.7 rule. Ideally you should be given the date, the range, and if the divinat...
Statistics has a very rich history of being involved in evil. And by "being involved", try "invented specifically for". 1. Regression to the mean- Originally called "reversion to mediocrity" because the scientist involved, Francis Galton, didn't like the result, this was invented for the study of Eugenics. The original study was to find the height ...
May 10, 2024 · Selection bias is the bias that occurs in a survey or experimental data when the selection of data points isn't sufficiently random to draw a general conclusion. If selection bias isn't accounted for or acknowledged, and the results are claimed to be widely applicable, it is known as the spotlight fallacy.
I use RationalWiki from time to time, and have found it very useful. My point was to suggest that if there was a bias there on certain pages, it certainly wasn't 'mildly biased'. I tend to be very cough skeptical about any articles on there relating to gender.
Sep 10, 2017 · As far as I understood, RationalWiki was created in opposition of the unscientific and politically biased claims of Conservapedia, and this is good. But I think that RW, although it is undoubtedly much less biased than Conservapedia, suffers itself of many biases.
They have some left-bias (any site that's anti-far-right is by design) but all their claims are sourced and you can read the sources and decide if you agree with their conclusions. I find they're generally pretty reliable.
Mar 24, 2024 · Since religious fundamentalism and far-right extremism, which RationalWiki strongly opposes, lean strongly to the right, a slight centre-left bias may emerge. RationalWiki is also based in the United States (as are many individual editors), where the Religious Right and Christian fundamentalism have featured prominently for many decades.
