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I don't feel particularly convinced by this article, I feel like it misses the bullet by going beyond a reasonable standard. The article is phrased in such a ma

I don't feel particularly convinced by this article, I feel like it misses the bullet by going beyond a reasonable standard. The article is phrased in such a manner that it acts as if typical descriptive statistics are not useful, but the more important point is more reasonable and understand when to use what statistics. In fact, many of his examples of what to use are just other descriptive statistics, median is no less a descriptive statistic than the mean is. I think the problem is not so much that descriptive statistics are bad, so much as they are not particularly useful when they lack context. Unfortunately, statistics is a much more complex field than your average product designer doing an A/B test thinks. The majority of statistics and models the average person utilizes has assumptions and qualifications that they don't fully understand, and frankly that's not a slight to them but rather just the additional depth of the field. Just as an example, ask the average person to derive the degrees of freedom for their t-test without just utilizing the formula they were taught. As in most fields this is an issue of nuance, not that beginner techniques are bad, but beginner techniques alone are not nuanced enough to capture useful or rigorous insights.

ykler 10y ago
"In fact, many of his examples of what to use are just other descriptive statistics, median is no less a descriptive statistic than the mean is." I think the author would fully agree with this. He is saying we should use more easily understandable descriptive statistics. "I think the problem is not so much that descriptive statistics are bad, so much as they are not particularly useful when they lack context. Unfortunately, statistics is a much more complex field than your average product designer doing an A/B test thinks." Whatever you say publicly is likely to be stripped of its context and to be received by an audience that does not understand the complexities of your field. The answer to this is to be change what you say, not to change the world, which verges on impossible.

ykler 10y ago

"In fact, many of his examples of what to use are just other descriptive statistics, median is no less a descriptive statistic than the mean is." I think the author would fully agree with this. He is saying we should use more easily understandable descriptive statistics. "I think the problem is not so much that descriptive statistics are bad, so much as they are not particularly useful when they lack context. Unfortunately, statistics is a much more complex field than your average product designer doing an A/B test thinks." Whatever you say publicly is likely to be stripped of its context and to be received by an audience that does not understand the complexities of your field. The answer to this is to be change what you say, not to change the world, which verges on impossible.