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"1 in 5 said they had gotten emotional support from a friend in the past week, compared with 4 in 10 women." -TFA There was no need to change the demoninator -

"1 in 5 said they had gotten emotional support from a friend in the past week, compared with 4 in 10 women." -TFA There was no need to change the demoninator - it was done to confuse people by having them compare 1 vs 4. It's hard to take the rest of the article seriously when they game the numbers to manipulate people so obviously. I feel like there is a real problem here, even if it is played a little too hard for the article. I do a lot of parenting but am lucky that my college friends all married and reproduced around the same time. So now instead of 12 people hanging, gaming, and BSing, we have 30-40 people in a glorious mob of activty. Thing is - the kids kinda entertain themselves reducing the parenting load for everyone. And everyone know how each family does stuff, so any 'random' adult can provide guidance or escalate to their parent. I don't know how I would do it without the group - likely I would try to build one from my kids new friends without the 20 years of common history.

staticman2 3y ago
>>>it was done to confuse people by having them compare 1 vs 4 I think it's more likely it was done that way because they were paraphrasing their source which wasn't consistent: "Four in 10 (41 percent) women report having received emotional support from a friend within the past week, compared to 21 percent of men." https://www.americansurveycenter.org/research/the-state-of-american-friendship-change-challenges-and-loss/ https://www.americansurveycenter.org/research/the-state-of-a...
- baldeagle 3y ago
  Thank you for that awareness. I didn't look at the source before jumping to conclusions. :) Still, that is mightly close to 2x, and a little bit of rounding would have made the message clearer (and likely stayed within the error bars of the original paper (which I did not read))
kridsdale3 3y ago
I honestly believe most journalists actually don't understand fractions. I often see a sentence that uses whole fractions when talking about statistics and percentages right next to each other.
- deleted 3y ago
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- ToucanLoucan 3y ago
  Always makes me think of how in America the 1/3 pound whopper was beaten in the market by the 1/4 pounder from McDonalds, and when surveyed people responded that the 1/4 was bigger. Education needs a lot of work around here.
  - mjevans 3y ago
    Maybe it could start by requiring ads to prominently include a non-fractional representation of the size as well. 'quarter pounder (0.250Lbs)' and '1/3rd pound (0.333Lbs) Whopper' - though IMO I just hate charbroiled generally.
    - ToucanLoucan 3y ago
      I like the charbroiled fine but BK is mediocre IMO. The smells that come out of those restaurants write checks that the food just cannot cash. That said, while I'm usually inclined towards any policies that I feel will annoy marketing, I feel it's pretty straightforward that 1/3 is bigger than 1/4 with a very basic amount of reasoning. I'm frankly shocked at how many people struggle with it.
      - pixl97 3y ago
        Not sure if my tastes were less refined when I was young or if the quality of everything at BK is just trash now. I remember back in the days of the 99 cent whopper they were pretty good and at least flame broiled tasting.
        ToucanLoucan 3y ago
        I mean they're fine. That's the description. They aren't gross, they aren't disgusting or whatever and if someone wanted to get one I'd probably be amenable? But like... it smells so good. And then you get it and it's just... eh. It's fine.
deleted 3y ago
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staticman2 3y ago

>>>it was done to confuse people by having them compare 1 vs 4 I think it's more likely it was done that way because they were paraphrasing their source which wasn't consistent: "Four in 10 (41 percent) women report having received emotional support from a friend within the past week, compared to 21 percent of men." https://www.americansurveycenter.org/research/the-state-of-american-friendship-change-challenges-and-loss/ https://www.americansurveycenter.org/research/the-state-of-a...

baldeagle 3y ago
Thank you for that awareness. I didn't look at the source before jumping to conclusions. :) Still, that is mightly close to 2x, and a little bit of rounding would have made the message clearer (and likely stayed within the error bars of the original paper (which I did not read))

kridsdale3 3y ago

I honestly believe most journalists actually don't understand fractions. I often see a sentence that uses whole fractions when talking about statistics and percentages right next to each other.

deleted 3y ago
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ToucanLoucan 3y ago
Always makes me think of how in America the 1/3 pound whopper was beaten in the market by the 1/4 pounder from McDonalds, and when surveyed people responded that the 1/4 was bigger. Education needs a lot of work around here.
- mjevans 3y ago
  Maybe it could start by requiring ads to prominently include a non-fractional representation of the size as well. 'quarter pounder (0.250Lbs)' and '1/3rd pound (0.333Lbs) Whopper' - though IMO I just hate charbroiled generally.
  - ToucanLoucan 3y ago
    I like the charbroiled fine but BK is mediocre IMO. The smells that come out of those restaurants write checks that the food just cannot cash. That said, while I'm usually inclined towards any policies that I feel will annoy marketing, I feel it's pretty straightforward that 1/3 is bigger than 1/4 with a very basic amount of reasoning. I'm frankly shocked at how many people struggle with it.
    - pixl97 3y ago
      Not sure if my tastes were less refined when I was young or if the quality of everything at BK is just trash now. I remember back in the days of the 99 cent whopper they were pretty good and at least flame broiled tasting.
      - ToucanLoucan 3y ago
        I mean they're fine. That's the description. They aren't gross, they aren't disgusting or whatever and if someone wanted to get one I'd probably be amenable? But like... it smells so good. And then you get it and it's just... eh. It's fine.

deleted 3y ago

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