"Statistics, how the (bleep) do they work?"

[chaotic_nipple]

So, I started reading an article about the alleged racism and sexism in American Idol. And what were the very first pieces of "Evidence" the author presented? The fact that out of 9 winners, "only" 4 have been women and 3 haven't been white

Comments

[little_e_]

Anyone who wants to draw conclusions about sexism or racism out of 9 data points is already stretching it.

[creidylad]

It's a ridiculous discussion.

Assuming the voting is in no way fixed (some people assume it is; I have no assumptions), it has to do with WHO IS LIKELY TO VOTE. My husband watches and enjoys but isn't inclined to cast votes. I watch and enjoy and cast votes. Before they limited each phone number dialing in to 50 votes each, it also had to do with which voting demographic had the equipment and technical expertise to vote 10,000x in an hour or two for their favorites vs. those who did not....

The voting system itself has changed over time, making the act of comparing results these days to results earlier in the competition a case of apples vs. oranges. Without weighting for the evolving changes -- something nobody has the knowledge to do, given how many questions are out there about the history of the voting process -- any analysis becomes meaningless, even if the author were not innumerate.

[majetate]

Hi there, awesome site. I thought the topics you posted on were very interesting