tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6894866515532737257.post7246657464345343673..comments2024-03-10T00:10:08.312-08:00Comments on Probably Overthinking It: An exercise in hypothesis testingAllen Downeyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01633071333405221858noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6894866515532737257.post-44376154112716734392014-09-16T05:19:31.335-07:002014-09-16T05:19:31.335-07:00Thanks for these comments, and for your kind words...Thanks for these comments, and for your kind words. You asked how what I presented differs from most intro stats classes. Based on the textbooks I've seen, I get the impression that many stats classes teach hypothesis testing as a cookbook process, so students learn how to perform various tests and when to use which test. I have not seen much emphasis on the sampling distribution as the basis for standard error and confidence interval (but I am sure there are example of books and classes that do).<br /><br />About the computational approach, you suggested that students might learn how to use tools, but not how they work. I don't think the computational approach prevents students from learning both, and compared to the standard mathematical approaches, it provides a lot of flexibility: students can learn how to use a black box, then learn how it works (a top-down approach) or start with building blocks and assemble the black box (bottom-up).Allen Downeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01633071333405221858noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6894866515532737257.post-85992281170713542152014-09-16T04:45:08.994-07:002014-09-16T04:45:08.994-07:00I am pleased to discover that the approach I provi...I am pleased to discover that the approach I provided on Reddit (as username blippage) was basically sound. Phew. It's good to know that time hasn't totally withered away my reasoning ability.<br /><br />When you say "The approach I presented here is a bit different from what's presented in most introductory stats classes", how so? Isn't there only one basic way to solve this problem: namely, by understanding that the mean of the sum/difference of two normally distributed variables is the sum/differences of the means, and the variance is the sum of the variance?<br /><br />Also, don't you think that there is a danger that by approaching problems programmatically, it is teaching students to think like engineers rather than mathematicians; that is to say, "I know that it does work, but I'm not sure why". Having said that, an approach that is "too" mathematical can end up looking like symbols just being pushed around the page, with the underlying concepts lost in the process.<br /><br />Your Think books look really interesting, and I think I owe it to myself to read them.<br /><br />All the best, Professor. You're doing a great job of educating the general public about statistical ideas.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04470463426170671630noreply@blogger.com