3 ms·
An important thing you’re missing is the control. You should record every ad. You need to know if you got 3 topics of ads every day and 1/3 of them are related
by vineyardmike 4y ago
An important thing you’re missing is the control. You should record every ad.
You need to know if you got 3 topics of ads every day and 1/3 of them are related to that secret topic, OR if you get 300 topics every day and 1/300 are related to that secret topic. If it’s the former, it’s suspicious, if it’s the latter, it’s way less suspicious.
- dan-robertson 4y agoThe control is the topic you pick that you don’t discuss on WhatsApp or messenger. The idea is random differences between topics should average out over many trials.
- vineyardmike 4y agoI still think it’s important to consider the volume of topics that show up that aren’t being explicitly looked for. I’ve gotten Instagram ads for ketamine and I absolutely am not discussing or searching for it. I probably wouldn’t even notice a random topic if it’s not so absurd. I’m sure there’s tons of topics I don’t even realize I see.
- dan-robertson 4y agoThe reason for the control I suggested is to try to counteract the bias people have towards noticing things they recently thought about. I think the question of what adverts people are shown in general is interesting but quite separate.