{"id":3558,"date":"2013-01-08T18:42:37","date_gmt":"2013-01-08T17:42:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/?p=3558"},"modified":"2013-01-08T18:42:48","modified_gmt":"2013-01-08T17:42:48","slug":"paper-revisiting-a-90-year-old-debate-the-advantages-of-the-mean-deviation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/2013\/01\/paper-revisiting-a-90-year-old-debate-the-advantages-of-the-mean-deviation\/","title":{"rendered":"Paper: Revisiting a 90-year-old debate: the advantages of the mean deviation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Actually im busy doing an exam paper for linguistics class, but it turned out to be not so difficult, so i spent som time on Khan Academy doing probability and statistics courses. i want to master that stuff, especially the stuff i dont currently know the details about, like regression.<\/p>\n

anyway, i stumpled into a comment asking about the way the standard deviation is calculated. why not just use the absolute value insted of squaring stuff and taking the square root after? i actually tried that once, and it gives different results! i tried it out becus the teacher’s notes said that it wud giv the same results. pretty neat discovery IMO.<\/p>\n

anyway, the other one has a name as well: https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Absolute_deviation<\/a><\/p>\n

here’s a paper that argues that we shud really return to the MD (mean deviation). i didnt understand all the math, but it sure is easier to calculate and the meaning of it easier to grasp, altho its probably too difficult to switch now that most of statistics is based on the SD. still cool tho.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Revisiting a 90-year-old debate the advantages of the mean deviation<\/a><\/p>\n

ABSTRACT:\u00a0 This\u00a0 paper\u00a0 discusses\u00a0 the\u00a0 reliance\u00a0 of\u00a0 numerical\u00a0 analysis\u00a0 on <\/span>
\nthe\u00a0 concept\u00a0 of\u00a0 the\u00a0 standard\u00a0 deviation,\u00a0 and\u00a0 its\u00a0 close\u00a0 relative\u00a0 the\u00a0 variance. <\/span>
\nIt\u00a0 suggests\u00a0 that\u00a0 the\u00a0 original\u00a0 reasons\u00a0 why\u00a0 the\u00a0 standard\u00a0 deviation\u00a0 concept <\/span>
\nhas\u00a0 permeated\u00a0 traditional\u00a0 statistics\u00a0 are\u00a0 no\u00a0 longer\u00a0 clearly\u00a0 valid,\u00a0 if\u00a0 they <\/span>
\never\u00a0 were.\u00a0 The\u00a0 absolute\u00a0 mean\u00a0 deviation,\u00a0 it\u00a0 is\u00a0 argued\u00a0 here,\u00a0 has many <\/span>
\nadvantages\u00a0 over\u00a0 the\u00a0 standard\u00a0 deviation.\u00a0 It\u00a0 is more\u00a0 efficient\u00a0 as an <\/span>
\nestimate\u00a0 of\u00a0 a population\u00a0 parameter\u00a0 in\u00a0 the\u00a0 real-life\u00a0 situation\u00a0 where\u00a0 the <\/span>
\ndata\u00a0 contain\u00a0 tiny\u00a0 errors,\u00a0 or\u00a0 do\u00a0 not\u00a0 form\u00a0 a completely\u00a0 perfect\u00a0 normal <\/span>
\ndistribution.\u00a0 It\u00a0 is\u00a0 easier\u00a0 to\u00a0 use,\u00a0 and more\u00a0 tolerant\u00a0 of\u00a0 extreme\u00a0 values,\u00a0 in <\/span>
\nthe\u00a0 majority\u00a0 of\u00a0 real-life\u00a0 situations\u00a0 where\u00a0 population\u00a0 parameters\u00a0 are\u00a0 not <\/span>
\nrequired.\u00a0 It\u00a0 is\u00a0 easier\u00a0 for\u00a0 new\u00a0 researchers\u00a0 to\u00a0 learn\u00a0 about\u00a0 and\u00a0 understand, <\/span>
\nand\u00a0 also\u00a0 closely\u00a0 linked\u00a0 to\u00a0 a number\u00a0 of\u00a0 arithmetic\u00a0 techniques\u00a0 already <\/span>
\nused\u00a0 in\u00a0 the\u00a0 sociology\u00a0 of\u00a0 education\u00a0 and\u00a0 elsewhere.\u00a0 We\u00a0 could\u00a0 continue\u00a0 to <\/span>
\nuse\u00a0 the\u00a0 standard\u00a0 deviation\u00a0 instead,\u00a0 as we\u00a0 do\u00a0 presently,\u00a0 because\u00a0 so\u00a0 much <\/span>
\nof\u00a0 the\u00a0 rest\u00a0 of\u00a0 traditional\u00a0 statistics\u00a0 is\u00a0 based\u00a0 upon\u00a0 it\u00a0 (effect\u00a0 sizes,\u00a0 and\u00a0 the <\/span>
\nF-test,\u00a0 for\u00a0 example).\u00a0 However,\u00a0 we\u00a0 should\u00a0 weigh\u00a0 the\u00a0 convenience\u00a0 of\u00a0 this <\/span>
\nsolution\u00a0 for\u00a0 some\u00a0 against\u00a0 the\u00a0 possibility\u00a0 of\u00a0 creating\u00a0 a much\u00a0 simpler\u00a0 and <\/span>
\nmore\u00a0 widespread\u00a0 form\u00a0 of\u00a0 numeric\u00a0 analysis\u00a0 for\u00a0 many. <\/span><\/p>\n

Keywords:\u00a0 variance,\u00a0 measuring\u00a0 variation,\u00a0 political\u00a0 arithmetic,\u00a0 mean <\/span>
\ndeviation,\u00a0 standard\u00a0 deviation, social\u00a0 construction\u00a0 of\u00a0 statistics<\/span><\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

it also has a new odd use of “social construction” which annoyed me when reading it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Actually im busy doing an exam paper for linguistics class, but it turned out to be not so difficult, so i spent som time on Khan Academy doing probability and statistics courses. i want to master that stuff, especially the stuff i dont currently know the details about, like regression. anyway, i stumpled into a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1766],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-math-science","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3558"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3561,"href":"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3558\/revisions\/3561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emilkirkegaard.dk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}