Last week, Andrew Gelman (link) and I were kindred spirits: we both did a "numbersensing" exercise on two different data analyses. I was reading the MailChimp study on the effect of Google siphoning off "marketing" emails into a separate tab, and a noise buzzed my head when I saw that the aggregate click-to-open ratio was reported at an inconceivable 85%. (See Part 1 of my reaction here.) In the meantime,…
One of the dangers of "Big Data" is the temptation to get lost in the details. You become so absorbed in the peeling of the onion that you don't realize your tear glands have dried up. Hans Rosling linked to...
Business Insider (link) highlighted a map showing childhood food insecurity across the 50 states, with the data coming from a report by Brookings. This is a nice map. I like the tones of the chosen colors although the colors are...
USA Today, who brought us a dubious early signaling system for sudden cardiac arrest in a prior post, also gave us “Story Time!” on aspirin on the same day (link). The article started with the conclusion: “Taking an aspirin before bed may reduce the chance of having a heart attack or stroke in the morning”. What is the data used to support this cause—effect statement? *** The researchers looked at…
A recent article in USA Today is titled “Many with sudden cardiac arrest had early signs” (link). The signs include shortness of breath, faintness, chest pain, etc. Hold on to the headline because it’s the only thing believable in the entire article. The words “early signs” imply to readers that were the men to heed these warnings, they could have prevented the cardiac arrests. Think about the following two statements:…
I'm very excited to learn that the FDA has ordered 23andme to stop selling "personal genetic testing" to unsuspecting consumers. This is the company founded by the ex of Google's Sergei Brin (recent news here). So for a change, the FDA is doing something right for consumers, without waiting 10 or 15 years. Here is a report on this action in San Jose Mercury (link). These tests have never been…
I'm hoping to speak at a location near you in the near future but in the meantime, here are two prior occasions you may have missed. The first is the LISA conference. LISA is Leaders in Software and Art. You'd get a flavor of this fascinating group by viewing this 7-minute video (link). I gave a 5-minute lightning talk, which starts at 4:18 on the video. All the lightning talks…
Here we go again. Another useless study published in a peer-reviewed journal (Mayo Clinic Proceedings) with a relatively high impact factor and promoted as "Breaking News from the Editor" to the press who then attached a sensational headline and reported it as "science". This is what caught my eye: "Drinking more than 28 cups of coffee a week may be harmful for people younger than 55, according to a study."…
image from http://lulzshirts.com/ Last week, I had dinner with my friend Cesare, who is a medical researcher. That was the first time I heard of the marketing scam known as "2% milk" or "1% millk" or "'fat free' milk". Sure, I know what 2% milk is. I've drunk some before. But I don't really know what 2% means. You see, I was comparing that to whole milk, thinking it contains…
Over at the McGraw-Hill blog, I wrote about how to consume Big Data (link), which is the core theme of my new book. In that piece, I highlight two recent instances in which bloggers demonstrated numbersense in vetting other people's data analyses. (Since the McGraw-Hill link is not working as I'm writing this, I placed a copy of the post here in case you need it.) Below is a detailed…
