Friday, April 21, 2006

In a word....

First, a bit of history:

The word of the day is:
kleptocracy

kleptocracy

kleptocracy
You get the idea.

2 comments:

Carol Ann said...

OK, as a Coloradoan, and not a historian, I want to know how they come up with average IQ? Is this using the same type of population in each state? Or are some states adding in their variously disabled people, and others not?

Try this word: Lies, damn lies, and statistics. To coin a phrase.

Ahistoricality said...

The data seems to be based on SAT/ACT scores, though the precise correlation between those and "intelligence" (and there's certainly plenty of issues with that as a blanket term, too) is not terribly firm. (Not surprisingly, a lot of effort went into debunking this chart, too; as usual, issues are never as simple as we want them to be) You can compare that chart with average educational attainment, for example, and see a tolerable correlation. On an individual level, no such generalization works out, but at the community level, there's something there.

Still, this particular chart was more a matter of confirmation bias than anything else....

Sorry.