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I want to add an addendum to this thread from the other day to show why publishing an n=1 is so bad. It's because I can likely identify and put a name to this student.

(I'm not going to do that here but I am going to show you how easy it is.)


To do that, let's talk about the IPEDS data set. IPEDS is a US database that contains a range of information about US universities, such as enrollment, test scores, graduation rates, etc.

One notable data table shows graduated students by major and ethnicity.

(FYI, here is the IPEDS data: https://t.co/K4OwsyLLsE It's an open database so you can explore at your leisure.)

Back to the "Completions" table which shows ethnicity by major. This happens to line up with the n=1 from the offending article which identified a student by their ethnicity and major.

Sorry, the n=1 was year in school and ethnicity but I've now used the IPEDS data to find out their major. Linking datasets on minority populations is very very powerful.
We’ve released our latest bulletin for deaths registered in England and Wales for week ending 8 January 2021 https://t.co/IwPoNzHUvu

These data have been affected by the Boxing Day and New Year’s Day bank holidays, and should be treated with caution.

The provisional number of deaths registered in England and Wales in the week ending 8 January 2021 (Week 1) was 17,751.

This was 7,682 more than Week 53.

Please note: this sharp increase may be because of the New Year Bank Holiday
https://t.co/hfjsArBUyM


In the week ending 8 January, the provisional number of deaths registered was 45.8% (5,576 deaths) above the five-year average.

This increase should be treated with caution because of the bank holidays

Of the 17,751 deaths registered in Week 1, 6,057 mentioned #COVID19 on the death certificate (34.1% of all deaths).

This has risen by 2,913 #COVID19 deaths since the previous week https://t.co/i7g7eFBN8z


Of the 6,057 deaths involving #COVID19, 88.6% had this recorded as the underlying cause of death.

Of the 4,649 deaths involving influenza and pneumonia, 8.2% had these as the underlying cause
1/11 A real problem is the notion that there is something called 'objectivity.' This is a myth. There is no theory--not a single one--of truth that withstands scrutiny. We don't know what truth is and can never know.


2/11 Qualitative scholars, including critical theorists, acknowledge their own social locations relative to the subjects at hand, empowering readers to ferret out not so much bias as the perspective from which authors perceive their topics. It's a necessary honesty.

3/11 We should note here further that quantitative scholars do not escape bias. They are merely excused from the requirement to talk or even think about that bias.

Numbers *never* tell a whole story. Statistics are about aggregates.

4/11 Indeed #neoliberalism's failing lies in a presumption that even if a rising tide fails to lift all boats, it lifts *most* of them, and therefore it adopts a prescription on utilitarian grounds.

5/11 But #neoliberalism turns out to sink far too many other boats, in actuality, a majority of boats while mistaking the extreme lifting of a few outlying boats for the lifting of most or all.

Economists are coming to understand this even if politicians choose not to.
1/ Learn more about the @USPS, its leadership and Louis DeJoy in Bill's conversation with Lisa Graves about how Charles Koch marked the Postal Service for privatization in the early 1970s and how he is using the Koch empire to push his political agenda to this day.


2/ She pointed to a recent report she authored for @PubInterest about Koch's efforts to popularize the fringe idea of privatizing the Postal Service and to capture the agency.

3/ When regulatory capture occurs, a special interest is prioritized over the general interests of the public. In 2006, one of his pro-privatization allies "James Miller was rewarded with a post on the Board of Governors for the Postal Service."

4/ "And from that perch in 2006, he pushed through this bill called the Postal Accountability and Efficiency Act, the PAEA, which really has dramatically harmed our Postal Service."

5/ Some people might say that they were trying to assure the failure of the Postal Service with the bill, which loaded it with burdens for the future that are not asked of any other government agency.
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