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ST article with misleading math?

1fast1

By 1fast1,
in Lite & EZ

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1fast1

1fast1

Supersonic
(edited)

ST misleading? Is that even possible?! [:p]

 

Anyway, this could be a Primary School Maths question that might challenge the reporters (Amelia Tan and somebody else).

 

(I'm paraphrasing from memory here). The ST reported that Singaporean students are "holding their own" against the foreign students in exams like the "O"-levels and PSLE. For the "O"s, they stated that 60% of the top students were Singaporeans - and this was the basis for their assertion.

 

Q : What's misleading about this assertion?

 

(Note that I didn't say it was inaccurate, it's a perfectly accurate statement, I'm sure, but it is very misleading for a simple reason).

Edited by Turboflat4
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RadX

RadX

Moderator

ST misleading? Is that even possible?! [:p]

 

Anyway, this could be a Primary School Maths question that might challenge the reporters (Amelia Tan and somebody else).

 

(I'm paraphrasing from memory here). The ST reported that Singaporean students are "holding their own" against the foreign students in exams like the "O"-levels and PSLE. For the "O"s, they stated that 60% of the top students were Singaporeans - and this was the basis for their assertion.

 

Q : What's misleading about this assertion?

 

(Note that I didn't say it was inaccurate, it's a perfectly accurate statement, I'm sure, but it is very misleading for a simple reason).

 

 

A professor told me dis b4

 

 

'There are LIES, DAMN LIES and there are STATISTICS' [laugh][laugh]

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1fast1

1fast1

Supersonic
  • Author

did they break down how many were PRs and true born SGs?

 

they like to lump these two statistics together...

 

Even that is not what I'm driving at. There's a fundamental piece of info missing that you need in order to evaluate the significance of the assertion. What's that?

 

In fact, they gave that info further down in the article (in the continuation on page A4), but "forgot" to tie-it-in with the former statistic.

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Watwheels

Watwheels

Supersonic

did they break down how many were PRs and true born SGs?

 

they like to lump these two statistics together...

Who can tell anyway when the majority here all looks like Chinese?

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1fast1

1fast1

Supersonic
  • Author

Acheelleey, I cannot find any disclaimer on ST that states whatever posted is factual and 100% accurate.

 

So there you go.... :D

 

I'm sure the figure quoted was factual and 100% accurate. Regardless, it's insufficient to support the assertion that Singaporeans are doing OK against foreigners. Why's this?

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1fast1

1fast1

Supersonic
  • Author
(edited)

A professor told me dis b4

 

 

'There are LIES, DAMN LIES and there are STATISTICS' [laugh][laugh]

 

True. [laugh] Quite a well known aphorism, actually.

 

BTW, this article was in yesterday's ST. Sorry about the omission.

Edited by Turboflat4
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Watwheels

Watwheels

Supersonic

I'm sure the figure quoted was factual and 100% accurate. Regardless, it's insufficient to support the assertion that Singaporeans are doing OK against foreigners. Why's this?

With the easy usage of email nowadays, you can direct email to the author of the said article and ask the fellow.

I'm like you, just a reader of the ST. So I cannot possibly know.

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1fast1

1fast1

Supersonic
  • Author
(edited)

i didnt read the article......tell us what's the misleading portion leh

 

Very simple - wouldn't you want to know what proportion of (all) students are Singaporeans?

 

If I told you that Singaporeans made up 88% of the student body, how would that change how you view the 60% figure?

 

(The article did quote lower down that around 12% of students were foreigners, this is where I got the 88% Singaporeans figure).

Edited by Turboflat4
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Zyrofillica

Zyrofillica

1st Gear
(edited)

assuming 100 top students, 60 percent would be 60 singaporeans and 40 foreigners. assuming singaporean students taking o level to be 100000 while there are only 10000 foreign students taking o level. It would simply mean that, WE ARE GETTING OUR SINKIE ASSES WOOPED~ hooray [laugh]

Edited by Zyrofillica
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Watwheels

Watwheels

Supersonic

In today's context, when the term Singaporeans are used in statistics. You must also remind yourself how many ex foreigners have already collected their pink ICs. I'm sure you had read the papers, saw pics of ppl taking oaths & pledges to become new citizens. These are Singaporeans too. And so possibly are their children.

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Ender

Ender

Hypersonic

Need to know loading ratio before making a comparison.

 

Infact need actual sample size to do proportion testing..

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