Abelson's paradox is an
applied statistics
Statistics (from German: ''Statistik'', "description of a state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a scientific, industria ...
paradox
A paradox is a logically self-contradictory statement or a statement that runs contrary to one's expectation. It is a statement that, despite apparently valid reasoning from true premises, leads to a seemingly self-contradictory or a logically u ...
identified by
Robert P. Abelson. The paradox pertains to a possible paradoxical relationship between the magnitude of the ''r''
2 (i.e.,
coefficient of determination)
effect size
In statistics, an effect size is a value measuring the strength of the relationship between two variables in a population, or a sample-based estimate of that quantity. It can refer to the value of a statistic calculated from a sample of data, the ...
and its practical meaning.
Abelson's example was obtained from the analysis of the ''r''
2 of
batting average
Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic.
Cricket
In cricket, a player's batting average i ...
in
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...
and skill level. Although batting average is considered among the most significant characteristics necessary for success, the effect size was only a tiny
[Roseman, I. J., & Read, S. J. (2007). "Psychologist at play: Abelson's life and contributions to psychological science." ''Perspectives on Psychological Science'', 2(1), p. 91. ] 0.003.
See also
*
List of paradoxes
References
Statistical paradoxes
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