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got "but selection bias" showing up in my mentions again lately, so here's a dutiful retweet

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Sep 13, 2021

ok i get these comments ON THE REGULAR and here is an angry tweet thread about why they are wrong and should feel bad 1. ppl are always like, 'but selection bias tho.' Do you know what selection bias is, how it works, and why it's bad? twitter.com/giovannimattei…

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1:38 PM · Dec 10, 2021

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Handwaving Freakoutery

@Freakoutery

Dec 10, 2021

Replying to

@Aella_Girl

Maybe there's selection bias in your followers that causes more of them to know about and/or call out selection bias in their replies to your tweets. We could call it "Selection bias bias."

Replying to

Most of us don't mention the selection bias because we assume you don't take the results too seriously.

@no_lying_online

Dec 10, 2021

Replying to

@Aella_Girl

Eh... The point of avoiding selection bias is because there are many possible lurking mechanisms that might lead to a skewing of the results. You identify one specific mechanism that may lead to a skewed result due to selection bias, and say that it is implausible.

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I think that anyone who complains, likely has never done anything with their lives, much less done the research for themselves.

Tailcalled (tailcalled@schelling.pt)

@tailcalled

Dec 10, 2021

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@Aella_Girl

Beware collider bias, though.

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Your hypothesis is often clear from your survey questions (e.g. positive correlation between abuse/bsdm). Those who the hypothesis resonates with are more likely to answer. That's it 🤷‍♂️

Replying to

No, there is selection bias, for the reasons I pointed out under that thread. Selecting a population to take a poll is completely different than a poll that someone reads first on Twitter and then decides to answer or not.