Why You Must Not Be “Data Driven” | Diane Ravitch’s blog

Reader John Wund left this. Moment about the power of data to mislead those of blind faith:

“Once, after I had an MS in physics, I was hired by a medical school to work on building a ‘physical biochemistry lab’. I also have a degree in Astronomy, so I think I know something (though, perhaps not everything) about statistics.

“Any useful statistic needs to be accompanied by an ‘error estimate’ and needs to be measuring something clearly agreed upon by everyone (brightness, position, etc.). When psychology pretends to measure ‘intelligence’ every rule is broken, and it sends Gauss whirling in his grave.

“These new tests that pretend to measure ‘teaching’ or ‘skill’ or ‘learning’ are simply an extension of the attempt to (or pretense to) measure ‘intelligence’. There is no clear (non-circular) definition of the trait to be measured, or of it’s importance to a larger society…

Source: Why You Must Not Be “Data Driven” | Diane Ravitch’s blog