Lecture

Simpson's Paradox: Understanding and Randomized Trials

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In course

EE-209: Elements of statistics for data science

Théorie de l'estimation: estimateurs du maximum de vraisemblance, information de Fisher, inégalité de Cramer-Rao, intervalles de confiance. Tests d'hypothèses: cadre de Neyman-Pearson: test du rapport de vraisemblance, tests paramétriques et non-parmétriq ...

Description

This lecture delves into the Simpson's Paradox using the kidney stone recovery example, highlighting how the paradox arises from the interaction of variables and the importance of randomized trials in avoiding confounding factors.

Instructor

Florent Gérard Krzakala

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Statistics

Data collection: Experiment

Related concepts (31)

Confounding

In causal inference, a confounder (also confounding variable, confounding factor, extraneous determinant or lurking variable) is a variable that influences both the dependent variable and independent variable, causing a spurious association. Confounding is a causal concept, and as such, cannot be described in terms of correlations or associations. The existence of confounders is an important quantitative explanation why correlation does not imply causation.

Random assignment

Random assignment or random placement is an experimental technique for assigning human participants or animal subjects to different groups in an experiment (e.g., a treatment group versus a control group) using randomization, such as by a chance procedure (e.g., flipping a coin) or a random number generator. This ensures that each participant or subject has an equal chance of being placed in any group. Random assignment of participants helps to ensure that any differences between and within the groups are not systematic at the outset of the experiment.

Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials

Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) encompasses various initiatives developed by the CONSORT Group to alleviate the problems arising from inadequate reporting of randomized controlled trials. It is part of the larger EQUATOR Network initiative to enhance the transparency and accuracy of reporting in research. The main product of the CONSORT Group is the CONSORT Statement, which is an evidence-based, minimum set of recommendations for reporting randomized trials.

Berkson's paradox

Berkson's paradox, also known as Berkson's bias, collider bias, or Berkson's fallacy, is a result in conditional probability and statistics which is often found to be counterintuitive, and hence a veridical paradox. It is a complicating factor arising in statistical tests of proportions. Specifically, it arises when there is an ascertainment bias inherent in a study design. The effect is related to the explaining away phenomenon in Bayesian networks, and conditioning on a collider in graphical models.

Simpson's paradox

Simpson's paradox is a phenomenon in probability and statistics in which a trend appears in several groups of data but disappears or reverses when the groups are combined. This result is often encountered in social-science and medical-science statistics, and is particularly problematic when frequency data are unduly given causal interpretations. The paradox can be resolved when confounding variables and causal relations are appropriately addressed in the statistical modeling (e.g., through cluster analysis).

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