Nice Website - Sense about Science

[Nomad]

Sense about science is a very nice website:

Promoting good science and evidence for the public

Sense About Science is an independent charitable trust. We respond to the misrepresentation of science and scientific evidence on issues that matter to society, from scares about plastic bottles, fluoride and the MMR vaccine to controversies about genetic modification, stem cell research and radiation. We work with scientists and civic groups to promote evidence and scientific reasoning in public discussion.
Our recent and current priorities include alternative medicine, MRI, detox, radiation, health tests, the status of evidence in public health advice, an educational resource on peer review, the public language of science, the impact of libel law and independent scientific advice.

Lots of good stuff in here about chemical additives, genetically modified foods, homeopathic "medecine", miracle cures for incurable conditions, and other controversies.

 

[granfire]

Added to favorites.

 

[SFC JeffJ]

Debunking "woo" is always a good thing.

Jeff

 

[Ramirez]

that's good, just checked the statistics section (my degree is in math and statistics) and it is quite right, an mean is meaningless without a confidence interval.

bookmarked the site.

 

[Empty Hands]

that's good, just checked the statistics section (my degree is in math and statistics) and it is quite right, an mean is meaningless without a confidence interval.

In my work, I customarily report the mean +/- the standard error. Most others in my field do too. However, I do notice that some will report the confidence interval instead. Is one preferable to the other in certain circumstances?

 

[Ramirez]

In my work, I customarily report the mean +/- the standard error. Most others in my field do too. However, I do notice that some will report the confidence interval instead. Is one preferable to the other in certain circumstances?

one is meaningless without the other, the mean is the value in question...basically the values of the random variable multiplied by the probability of that value, the standard deviation is the square root of the variance, or the difference of the values from the mean.

the smaller the standard deviation the better the mean is of the value of the random variable you are looking for.

 

[fyn5000]

Thanks Nomad!

Looks like a good website and I now have some new things to read for this weekend.

Fyn

 

[Empty Hands]

Thanks Nomad!

Looks like a good website and I now have some new things to read for this weekend.

Fyn

Dude, your cat avatar looks exactly like my older cat. Has my kitty been sneaking out to visit friends?