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Using internet points this way is not mathematically sound. You're using a highly biased sample, to begin with. The mathematics here start with the assumption
by learnstats2 11y ago
Using internet points this way is not mathematically sound.
You're using a highly biased sample, to begin with.
The mathematics here start with the assumption that you have a random sample. You don't. The assumption is invalid; and there's no reason to believe this calculation is a good one compared with any other.
A particular type of person votes on particular things: it's commonly observed that new movies rate higher than they should on IMDB, because super-fans are the first to vote. (This is convenient for your example)
- stdbrouw 11y agoInappropriate for obtaining unbiased confidence intervals, yes, but this doesn't matter for ranking if bias is uniform across everything that's being rated. You make a good point that there might be differential bias depending on when the movie came out, but I don't think the solution is then to say "well, now all bets are off, might as well concoct our own techniques and assume they're just as good or better." Statistical techniques are not either fully valid or fully invalid. Simulate the bias and look at exactly how it influences the results of a particular technique, and then perhaps use that to make an adjustment based on data rather than intuition.