[LifeComesFirst]

Saw this posted on DU (yeah, I go there all of the time). Problems:

1) It looks at one particular source of porn revenue and excludes others
2) It assumes that the people buying this porn are conservative because they are in “red states”

I don’t think any reputable statistician would derive the conclusion “conservatives buy more porn” from this data alone. The statistics are too narrow in their range and too broad in their conclusions.

[farlander]

Here you go bringing reason, logic, and science into this. In this new world, you must ‘FEEL’ things. And if from some jumbled set of data you collected feeling around you ‘feel’ you’re coming to a right conclusion, well, it MUST be the case.

I ‘feel’ the author is a total jackass. It must be the case.

[SuziQ]

The statistics are too narrow in their range and too broad in their conclusions.

I believe it was Mark Twain who was credited as saying, "There's lies, there's DAMN lies, and then there's Statistics."

That statement always amuses my hubby, who is a PhD Statistician, because he agrees completely! ;o)