4 ms·

What kind of data do you absolutely need...? The kind of data that demonstrates that the OKCupid data doesn't reflect broader dating patterns.

astine 17y ago
I think that anyone who wants to use OkCupid's data as an example of the dating market as a whole, needs to show that OKCupid is representative of the dating market as a whole, not the other way around.
- danieldon 17y ago
  I think that anyone who speculates and makes unsubstantiated claims about the dating market as a whole needs to show that their speculation and claims are representative of the dating market as a whole, or really representative of anything at all. My statement was broader than intended. Obviously OKCupid's data is not necessarily reflective of all dating sites or interracial dating patterns overall, but Ta-Nehisi Coates is only presenting a hypothesis and some speculative claims, not data, and his speculation shouldn't be treated as anything more until someone presents data that supports it.
scott_s 17y ago
The burden of proof generally relies on people making the unusual claim.
- danieldon 17y ago
  How is it at all unusual? The OKCupid data reflects census data on interracial marriage pairings, which shows low numbers of marriages between black women and men of other races (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interracial_marriage_in_the_United_States#cite_ref-census5_10-0 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interracial_marriage_in_the_Uni...). If the OKCupid data showed that black women were both responsible for and recipients of the highest reply rates, that would be unusual.
  - scott_s 17y ago
    It's unusual in the sense that it's new. OKCupid has data. If they want to draw general conclusions from that data, then it's their obligation to convince us that it's valid to generalize. However, if I remember OKCupid's posts correctly, they explicitly pointed out that they weren't trying to generalize, and acknowledged that all of their conclusions applied only to the users of their site. I think it's everyone else who've tried to generalize their conclusions. The author of the article from this thread is actually practicing skepticism. He is skeptical of the general conclusions drawn from the data set, and he proposes an alternate, simpler theory - selection bias - that would explain the behavior seen.
    - danieldon 17y ago
      The author of the article from this thread is actually practicing skepticism No, he's making unsupported, assertive claims, premised on the anecdote that "any black person will tell you, when black folks date online they don't go to OKcupid."
    - Retric 17y ago
      Skepticism is not the default answer. Skepticism is what happens when you don't like the conclusions given.

astine 17y ago

I think that anyone who wants to use OkCupid's data as an example of the dating market as a whole, needs to show that OKCupid is representative of the dating market as a whole, not the other way around.

danieldon 17y ago
I think that anyone who speculates and makes unsubstantiated claims about the dating market as a whole needs to show that their speculation and claims are representative of the dating market as a whole, or really representative of anything at all. My statement was broader than intended. Obviously OKCupid's data is not necessarily reflective of all dating sites or interracial dating patterns overall, but Ta-Nehisi Coates is only presenting a hypothesis and some speculative claims, not data, and his speculation shouldn't be treated as anything more until someone presents data that supports it.

scott_s 17y ago

The burden of proof generally relies on people making the unusual claim.

danieldon 17y ago
How is it at all unusual? The OKCupid data reflects census data on interracial marriage pairings, which shows low numbers of marriages between black women and men of other races (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interracial_marriage_in_the_United_States#cite_ref-census5_10-0 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interracial_marriage_in_the_Uni...). If the OKCupid data showed that black women were both responsible for and recipients of the highest reply rates, that would be unusual.
- scott_s 17y ago
  It's unusual in the sense that it's new. OKCupid has data. If they want to draw general conclusions from that data, then it's their obligation to convince us that it's valid to generalize. However, if I remember OKCupid's posts correctly, they explicitly pointed out that they weren't trying to generalize, and acknowledged that all of their conclusions applied only to the users of their site. I think it's everyone else who've tried to generalize their conclusions. The author of the article from this thread is actually practicing skepticism. He is skeptical of the general conclusions drawn from the data set, and he proposes an alternate, simpler theory - selection bias - that would explain the behavior seen.
  - danieldon 17y ago
    The author of the article from this thread is actually practicing skepticism No, he's making unsupported, assertive claims, premised on the anecdote that "any black person will tell you, when black folks date online they don't go to OKcupid."
  - Retric 17y ago
    Skepticism is not the default answer. Skepticism is what happens when you don't like the conclusions given.