Dumb science

Thursday, November 20, 2008

So this guy, John Ziegler, decided to pay a respected polling operation (Zogby) a "large sum" of money to do a super moronic meaningless poll that he's making into a documentary. Enjoy this clip:



Now, those of you with a scientific background will have a field day with this -- as selecting 12 people from LA and calling that a "representative sample" is less than credible. But, it seems, no one has had more fun in this that Nate Silver, quant geek extraordinare. If you want to get rid of that icky feeling in your gut from that clip, read this.

I don't think this documentary actually means anything. The conclusions that are drawn from it make no sense based on the design of the poll -- and the assumptions are absurd. But, it should get everybody good and riled on Thursday, the most anticlimactic day of the week.