SSC
Against Individual IQ Worries
Scott Alexander argues that while IQ is valuable for research, it's not reliable for predicting individual success and shouldn't be a major personal concern.
18 min read 2,768 words
A thread through the archive
correlation
Essays tagged “correlation”. Follow an idea across the archive.
Essays on correlation
6 essaysSSC
Beware Regional Scatterplots
Scott Alexander cautions against drawing strong conclusions from regional scatterplots, demonstrating how apparent correlations can be artifacts of regional clustering rather than true relationships.
8 min read 1,168 words
SSC
Guns and States 2: Son of a Gun
Scott Alexander offers follow-up insights on his guns and states analysis, addressing cultural factors, rape correlations, replication issues, and the complexity of gun control debates.
7 min read 1,020 words
SSC
Stalin and Summary Statistics
Scott Alexander examines how different statistical presentations of the same data in social science studies can lead to vastly different interpretations, potentially misleading readers.
18 min read 2,663 words
SSC
Beware Summary Statistics
Scott Alexander explores how summary statistics can be misleading when describing relationships between variables, using examples of IQ's correlation with crime and income.
5 min read 661 words
SSC
Google Correlate does not imply Google Causation
Scott Alexander examines Google Correlate, finding it produces both obvious and nonsensical correlations, and explores its potential uses and limitations.
9 min read 1,267 words