4 ms·

Journalism and statistics, oil and water.

• akomtu 5y ago
  I'd even say journalists don't understand statistics. Without proper math education, they see stats as a game of numbers where the goal is to pick the right numbers to support a desired conclusion. I can't seriously expect a journalist to understand what "2 sigma" means, and even less likely they'd be willing to learn the difference between gaussian and poisson distributions.
  • nkurz 5y ago
    Certainly some journalists don't understand basic statistics, but counter to your insinuation, I'd guess the author of this piece does. Among other degrees, she has a Masters of Science in Biochemistry from UW-Madison: https://www.nytimes.com/by/apoorva-mandavilli https://www.nytimes.com/by/apoorva-mandavilli. Rather than lowering the standards and expectations for science journalists, I think we should raise them, and applaud the people like this who (likely) do understand what they are writing about.
    • tedunangst 5y ago
      Even when the author understands the topic, the challenge is writing an article such that the reader reaches the same conclusion.