Online Dating and the Statistical Dark Arts

One of the darkest statistical arts lies in choosing the model to use when analyzing your experimental data. A statistical model both represents your understanding of the experiment and enables you to test the strength of evidence supporting your conclusions. You can...

The Graph That Launched a Thousand News Stories

Statistics is the science of learning from data, and of measuring, controlling, and communicating uncertainty Thoughtful analysis and honest, effective communication of data are hallmarks of good statistical practice. At the intersection of data communication and...

Informed Consent: When Science is a Morality Play

From left: Tina Benko, Myra Lucretia Taylor, and Jesse J. Perez in the Primary Stages and Ensemble Studio Theatre/Alfred P. Sloan Foundation production of Informed Consent by Deborah Zoe Laufer, directed by Liesl Tommy, at Primary Stages at The Duke on 42nd Street....

Predictive Policing, Gender Bias, and Median Survival

“Predictive policing” driven by bias A recent New York Times story describing the increasing practice of “predictive policing” does a good job of describing what this is all about, at least in broad strokes: “The strategy… combines elements of traditional policing,...

The 20-Year Old Study that Shook Medicine

The controversy over clinical trial transparency exploded last week as the BMJ published a reanalysis of previously hidden data on an antidepressant drug called Paroxetine (or Paxil). Paxil was approved for adults in 1992 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), but...