Hi On 4 Apr 2003, dennis roberts wrote:
> At 11:28 PM 4/3/2003, jim clark wrote: > > > >As another related argument for the validity of statistical > >tests, consider a difference of 1$. That is a real difference > >for the population, but does it represent discrimination? > > if you want to discuss salary discrimination ... then one > needs to consider the guidelines for organizations like EEOC > and others ... to look at what they do I should have used some more neutral term (e.g., systematic differences), with discrimination being one possible explanation for such differences, should they exist. As to depending on quasi-legal bodies for final decisions about whether or not discrimination exists, I can't say I've always been impressed by the level of reasoning and analysis involved. > this sort of issue has to do with current payroll employees > and whether you are compensating them ... males and females > doing the same sorts of jobs ... fairly > this is not an inferential problem in the sense of the way we > teach them in intro stat ... it just is not You ignored all the preceding part of my post, which was relevant to this question. That is, we can and should ask whether the observed differences could have arisen readily by chance factors. I drew an analogy to a randomization test, similar to the point made by Robert Dawson. If a coin toss determining gender would have produced the observed difference or larger a high percentage of the time, then there is limited basis for concluding that discrimination exists, no matter how large the observed difference. Best wishes Jim ============================================================================ James M. Clark (204) 786-9757 Department of Psychology (204) 774-4134 Fax University of Winnipeg 4L05D Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9 [EMAIL PROTECTED] CANADA http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/~clark ============================================================================ . . ================================================================= Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at: . http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ . =================================================================
