Texas Teach
Posts: 2084
Joined: April 2007
|
| Quote (GaryGaulin @ Sep. 11 2014,17:23) | | Quote | Google has open sourced a tool for inferring cause from correlations
According to blog post author Kay H. Brodersen, Google uses the tool — created it, in fact — primarily for quantifying the effectiveness of AdWords campaigns. However, he noted, the same method could be used to gauge everything from whether adding a new feature caused an increase in app downloads to questions involving events in medical, social or political science.
.......
The differences between causation and correlation — and the importance of not conflating the two just because you’re now dealing with big data — has been explained ad nauseam. And although all of those concerns hold true, especially if we’re using data to solve a problem or to inform policy strategies that could have meaningful negative effects on individuals, this type of tool is still potentially very useful. Strong causal inference could serve as a jumping-off point for a deeper study of cause and effect, and for applications such as advertising, marketing or site/app design it might be good enough. |
https://gigaom.com/2014.......lations |
Great, now we can tell if stupidity is the cause of Gary's nonsense or just correlated with it.
--------------
"Creationists think everything Genesis says is true. I don't even think Phil Collins is a good drummer." --J. Carr
"I suspect that the English grammar books where you live are outdated" --G. Gaulin
|
