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I must commend Grant for his thoughtful analysis of the complex association between browser choice, conformity, and career success. He begins with an elegant pr
by rtl49 11y ago
I must commend Grant for his thoughtful analysis of the complex association between browser choice, conformity, and career success. He begins with an elegant proof establishing that a one-to-one mapping exists between those who elect to install web-browsing software, instead of using the default, and the nonconformist personality trait. Next he observes that the study's astute selection of subjects, call center employees, gives us confidence that the results can be generalized to many, and indeed all, professions. Lastly, Grant creates a coherent picture of the study and its implications by clearly identifying nonconformity as the causal factor in the subjects' improved performance as call center workers.
Admirably, Grant breaks from the mainstream by avoiding the temptation to abuse p-values to support the association. In fact, he succeeds in establishing a direct causal relationship between browser choice, nonconformity, and career success without relying upon any statistical analysis whatsoever. In an age when we are all too weary of the misuses and abuses of statistics, it is refreshing to read an interpretation which so convincingly supports its thesis with a single figure. There can be little doubt going forward that nonconformity is a key ingredient for career success, and that this trait is strongly indicated by browser preference.
- thieving_magpie 11y agoFunny. I do want to point out that this article is just terribly written. It seems to be based more on this: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/03/people-who-use-firefox-or-chrome-are-better-employees/387781/ http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/03/people-w... That article tends to go a little more in depth. I do think it's interesting that they can make the correlation between retention rates at a call center (with average 45% annual turnover) and browser choice. Those going with chrome/firefox stayed 15% longer in their positions. How that gets turned into some cliched 'nonconformist' categorization, I don't know. It would seem pretty conformist to stay in your position longer rather than quit, but what do I know. "As correlations like “Chrome users are better employees” bob up from a sea of data, it’s important that they don’t start to generate the same rigid biases that Big Data is partially dampening—rejecting an applicant with the “wrong” browser would be silly."