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0 pointsineedasername2y ago0 comments

>There is a concept from polling called a "random sample"... It's like taking a sample of a swimming pool, to check the chlorine levels.

And maybe the edge of the pool closest to the person taking the sample is the deep end where mostly adults swim, but if they walked a bit further and took the sample from the shallow side with the babies and toddlers they'd find out the water is actually 50% piss with more than trace amounts of feces mixed in as well.

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alvarezbjm-hn2y ago

Strawman. Parent was talking about [(Cl^(-1))]

If you care about excrement content, that should be another study.

Bottom line: Representative sample https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sampling_(statistics)

autoexec2y ago

I think the point was that you need to ensure a representative sample and that requires an idea of the scale of the fraud taking place to be able to measure its impacts. I have no idea if that's possible without insider data or not, but I suspect that was the point of the argument, and not which substance was being tested for in the imaginary body of water being used as an example.

ineedasernameOP2y ago

Yes, I am-- very-- well aware of what a representative sample means, and made my comment specifically with that knowledge in mind when I responded.

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