A poem about regression to the mean

Format: Videos
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Language/s: English
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Resource Link: View the Video
Short Description:

Regression to the mean can lead us to think that an intervention has been effective when it hasn't. This poem illustrates it nicely.

Key Concepts addressed:

Details

This is a funny 1-minute poem about regression to the mean, a common statistical phenomenon which often misleads people (www.inkpotamus.com )

Natural variation in the occurrence of an event can mislead us into thinking that an intervention has been effective when it hasn’t.  For example, if a golfer has had a particularly bad round and she changes her grip on the club, she might shoot a better round the next time.  But is this down to the changed grip, or is it just the natural variation in her score?

This is called “regression to the mean”.

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