Re: [lace-chat] who says 'numbers don't lie' ?
Dear Lacemakers, and Toni, thank you for posting this fascinating article. > http://slate.msn.com/id/2086617/ > > Faith-Based Fudging > How a Bush-promoted Christian prison program fakes success by massaging data. > By Mark A.R. Kleiman > > (snip) > excerpt : > So, how did the Penn study get perverted into evidence that InnerChange > worked? Through one of the oldest tricks in the book, (snip) I've never really understood how statistics are used - let alone misused - but this piece makes it really clear what is going on. In future, I hope I'll be able to spot when I'm being misled in this way. Best wishes, Linda Walton, (in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, U.K., where it's a beautiful Summer's morning, and I'm very pleased with myself after understanding that item). To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[lace-chat] who says 'numbers don't lie' ?
http://slate.msn.com/id/2086617/ Faith-Based Fudging How a Bush-promoted Christian prison program fakes success by massaging data. By Mark A.R. Kleiman Posted Tuesday, August 5, 2003, at 9:35 AM PT The White House, the Wall Street Journal, and Christian conservatives have been crowing since June over news that President George W. Bush's favorite faith-based initiative is a smashing success. excerpt : So, how did the Penn study get perverted into evidence that InnerChange worked? Through one of the oldest tricks in the book, one almost guaranteed to make a success of any program: counting the winners and ignoring the losers. The technical term for this in statistics is "selection bias"; program managers know it as "creaming." Harvard public policy professor Anne Piehl, who reviewed the study before it was published, calls this instance of it "cooking the books." To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
