Re: pinhole Repeated measures

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From: Steven Eiger (eiger@montana.edu)
Date: Sat Nov 18 2000 - 13:19:43 PST 

Message-Id: <l03102800b63ca02f223f@[153.90.150.107]>
Date: Sat, 18 Nov 2000 14:19:43 -0700
From: Steven Eiger <eiger@montana.edu>
Subject: Re: pinhole Repeated measures

Gary, If counting destroyed the sample like in electron microscopy, it
would. Here it makes things more accurate as my understanding of the punch
card counting suggests that 5% of the votes do not get counted. n This
raises the N, making results more precise, and more fairly counts the votes
of that county relative to those that use other systems where closer to
100% of the votes get counted. The question is in how many counties were
punch cards used and what were the leanings of those counties, I can not
find that information. If you care to get political, ask students what
grade they should get if they forget to put their name on their paper, or
if they use ink instead of pencil, etc. In my class there are 2% errors of
that type on average, this is with white college kids. As I give out five
versions of the same exam, it usually is students putting answer sheets in
the wrong piles. My class thinks that I should regrade them to give them
the grade they intended to get. Not all feel the same about voting, I
think this says something about partisan connected brain plasticity. Eiger

>I'd like to keep this as non-political as possible, although that might be
>impossible. George W. Bush's statement the other night about how repeated
>polling can only increase error has raised some contraversy in my class
>about this issue.
>
>Is this an example of innumeracy? Shouldn't repeated measurements always
>increase accuracy?
>
>Or is Gov. Bush correct, and that, in this special case, repeated handling
>of ballots degrades the data?
>
>Can we discuss this from a purely scientific perspective and give our kids
>some non-partisian information to help them judge these historical events?
>
>Gary Horne
>

Steven Eiger, Ph.D.

Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience and the WWAMI Medical Education
Program
PO Box 173148
Montana State University - Bozeman
Bozeman, MT 59717-3148

Voice: (406) 994-5672
E-mail: eiger@montana.edu
FAX: (406) 994-7077

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