115k views

### Is normality testing 'essentially useless'?

A former colleague once argued to me as follows: We usually apply normality tests to the results of processes that, under the null, generate random variables that are only asymptotically or ...
2k views

### What are the worst (commonly adopted) ideas/principles in statistics?

In my statistical teaching, I encounter some stubborn ideas/principles relating to statistics that have become popularised, yet seem to me to be misleading, or in some cases utterly without merit. I ...
20k views

### Regarding p-values, why 1% and 5%? Why not 6% or 10%?

Regarding p-values, I am wondering why $1$% and $5$% seem to be the gold standard for "statistical significance". Why not other values, like $6$% or $10$%? Is ...
87k views

### How to choose between t-test or non-parametric test e.g. Wilcoxon in small samples

Certain hypotheses can be tested using Student's t-test (maybe using Welch's correction for unequal variances in the two-sample case), or by a non-parametric test like the Wilcoxon paired signed rank ...
9k views

### Given the power of computers these days, is there ever a reason to do a chi-squared test rather than Fisher's exact test?

Given that software can do the Fisher's exact test calculation so easily nowadays, is there any circumstance where, theoretically or practically, the chi-squared test is actually preferable to Fisher'...
55k views

### Always Report Robust (White) Standard Errors?

It has been suggested by Angrist and Pischke that Robust (i.e. robust to heteroskedasticity or unequal variances) Standard Errors are reported as a matter of course rather than testing for it. Two ...
19k views

### How does a Poisson distribution work when modeling continuous data and does it result in information loss?

A co-worker is analyzing some biological data for her dissertation with some nasty Heteroscedasticity (figure below). She's analyzing it with a mixed model but is still having trouble with the ...
5k views

### How can we ever know the population variance?

In hypothesis testing, a common question is what is the population variance? My question is how can we ever know the population variance? If we knew the entire distribution, we might as well know the ...
4k views

### How to cross validate stepwise logistic regression?

I have a conceptual problem understanding how to cross validate stepwise logistic regression. Every time the training set is divided it is very likely that different features are chosen based on the ...
862 views

### What is the best method of reporting multiple tests of equivalence?

I am doing a study which will involve multiple tests of equivalence. Is there a standard table for reporting such results? EDIT with more detail: It is a longitudinal study with 5 time points. Our ...
4k views

### Clustered standard errors and multi-level models

Stata allows estimating clustered standard errors in models with fixed effects but not in models random effects? Why is this? By clustered standard errors, I mean clustering as done by stata's ...