I couldn't believe it the first twenty times you told us, but it's starting to sink in now.

Riley ,'Lessons'


Natter 39 and Holding  

Off-topic discussion. Wanna talk about corsets, duct tape, or physics? This is the place. Detailed discussion of any current-season TV must be whitefonted.


Rick - Oct 12, 2005 8:08:15 am PDT #5516 of 10002

Is there any way to use those numbers put together to convince people that this 96% is likely a reasonable representation of the entire population, or is the fact that the sample isn't random going to doom any such efforts?

There is, but you would need a model to explain why some people have missing data. For instance, if you have information about the people who did and did not answer (e.g. age, sex, income, race) that allows you to predict whether they will answer the question, then you can get back the correct percentage. But this is very difficult and takes special software.

What most people do is to make the argument that missingness is not related to the answers people give. Do you have any idea whey some people answered and some didn't? Can you imagine any way that this would affect the particular answer that they would have given. Sometimes you can make a strong case. Then you can just accept the 96%.

Or you report the 96% with the caveat that it only provides information about responders and may not apply to the whole population. Put it in fine print in a footnote. No one gets 100% of the people they go after.


Topic!Cindy - Oct 12, 2005 8:08:19 am PDT #5517 of 10002
What is even happening?

Dude, totally. You can make numbers like that say anything!!
'Tis true. My college Stats. textbook was called How to Lie with Statistics.


Frankenbuddha - Oct 12, 2005 8:11:34 am PDT #5518 of 10002
"We are the Goon Squad and we're coming to town...Beep! Beep!" - David Bowie, "Fashion"

The one in the middle of the front line of the scrum, whose job it is to hook the ball with their feet as it gets rolled into the scrum and push it back out the tail end of the scrum. The ones to either side of the hooker are called props.

So in rugby, you must give the hookers their props, yo?


Nutty - Oct 12, 2005 8:13:50 am PDT #5519 of 10002
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."

Try searching on rubgy + scrum + "first row." There are only 3 people in the first row of a scrum, and the hooker is the middle one.

Done properly, the hooker sits on the shoulders of two middlerow people, one person per hip. Unlike the other two people in the first row, the hooker does not have someone reaching between his/her legs to grab at her waistband, either. It is a curiously virginal position to play.


Jesse - Oct 12, 2005 8:15:52 am PDT #5520 of 10002
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.

I think one of my college roommates was a hooker -- she's kind of little and mean, so that would be right, right?

OK, I have got to get out of here. Note: favorite thing to do in the rain is not go outside. I failed miserably at that on Saturday in the driving rain, and will fail again today. Bleh.


Jessica - Oct 12, 2005 8:18:21 am PDT #5521 of 10002
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset

My favorite thing to do in the rain depends on the season. Summer = run outside and play. Winter = curl up on the couch with tea/coffee/cocoa/etc.

Sadly, today, I do not have that option. (Though I will be having my lunch delivered -- no way I'm going out in this more times today than I absolutely have to.)


§ ita § - Oct 12, 2005 8:19:45 am PDT #5522 of 10002
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

I think one of my college roommates was a hooker -- she's kind of little and mean, so that would be right, right?

I like this sentence.

I caught sight of a reflection of me this morning, striding into work in high-heeled shiny boots with big buckle, short red skirt, shiny black blouse and a Hellboy lunchbox. Ah, well. It's all me.

I really want cheese. I have yoghurt. Want cheese. Have chicken and rice, want cheese.


sarameg - Oct 12, 2005 8:22:07 am PDT #5523 of 10002

I had cheese!


§ ita § - Oct 12, 2005 8:22:31 am PDT #5524 of 10002
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.

Like yesterday, where all you had was cheese?


Calli - Oct 12, 2005 8:22:55 am PDT #5525 of 10002
I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul—Calvin and Hobbs

Basically, the player whose job it is to try to "hook" (grab, get control of) the ball with his/her feet when they're in the scrum (which is the chaotic-looking mob scene thing).

The one in the middle of the front line of the scrum, whose job it is to hook the ball with their feet as it gets rolled into the scrum and push it back out the tail end of the scrum. The ones to either side of the hooker are called props.

Done properly, the hooker sits on the shoulders of two middlerow people, one person per hip. Unlike the other two people in the first row, the hooker does not have someone reaching between his/her legs to grab at her waistband, either. It is a curiously virginal position to play.

Ahh, Buffistas. Source of all knowledge. Thanks!