3 ms·

Why can't they just give the number and the confidence interval and the methodology they used to arrive at the numbers??

• brianwawok 6y ago
  What percentage of the American public understand what a confidence interval is? I have 95% confidence that this number is under 0.1% using the methodology of pulling numbers out of my butt. I have been in college level stat classes where many people didn't truly grasp confidence interval. While I would love the data, I think it's not really the most important thing during a crisis.
  • onlyrealcuzzo 6y ago
    No - but a lot of people by now work with someone or know someone who does understand stats. So people could talk about these things and start to understand it.
  • bart_spoon 6y ago
    They don't have to say its a confidence interval. Just say something like: "Though outdoor infections are uncommon, how uncommon is uncertain. Based on the limited data available, we estimate outdoor infections to make up anywhere between 0.1% and 10% of total infections". That is honest, transparent, and doesn't require understanding any statistical theory like confidence intervals.