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I'd like to propose a change to 'Proposed Q&A site for statistics, data analysis and data mining'. It sounds a bit trivial, but the name as it stand implies that only people who do only statistics for a living should use the site. There are people in many other professions who might have a lot to contribute to the site, but be put off if they feel like it is just for people where statistics is their profession rather than part of their profession. – Ian Turner May 27 '10 at 20:57

Statistics is not a subset of mathematics. It uses some mathematics, but so does physics, engineering, etc. Try asking any of these questions on MO and they will (rightly) be closed as off topic. – Rob Hyndman May 27 '10 at 23:40

I've modified the subheading to take account of the comments being made. Let me know if you think this is better (perhaps vote up this comment). I'm still not sure what to do with the major heading. I understand the objections, but haven't come up with anything better yet. Feel free to make some suggestions in the comments. – Rob Hyndman Jun 1 '10 at 3:55

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113 Example Questions (12 closed)

active newest votes

up vote 1 down vote

added by WikiSpeedia hang-around May 27 '10 at 12:16

(From en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahalanobis_distance: "Mahalanobis distance is widely used in cluster analysis and classification techniques. It is closely related to Hotelling's T-square distribution used for multivariate statistical testing and Fisher's Linear Discriminant Analysis that is used for supervised classification.") – WikiSpeedia hang-around May 27 '10 at 12:19

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added by Ian Turner May 27 '10 at 12:17

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added by Andrew Song May 27 '10 at 21:18

The R tag on stackoverflow is already pretty active: is the goal to move that community over to this site instead? – Shane Jun 1 '10 at 15:50

It does not have to be one or the other. Overlap is going to happen with the plethora of sites that will spring from Area51. – Stu Thompson Jun 1 '10 at 16:34

I agree with Stu that there will be some overlap. However, as a general rule I think programming and syntax questions should go to StackOverflow and statistical questions should go here. The boundary is obviously fuzzy. – Rob Hyndman Jun 1 '10 at 22:09

up vote 1 down vote

added by Jay Stevens May 29 '10 at 12:24

up vote 1 down vote

added by chollida May 31 '10 at 17:25

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurtosis ... so I'm inclined to say it's not a good example. – Matt Parker Jun 8 '10 at 17:04

@Matt Parker, all you did was post a link to a wikipedia article. It's entirely unclear what point you were trying to make with the link. Can you expand on your reasoning? – chollida Jun 9 '10 at 19:28

My apologies. The point I so feebly tried to make is that, while on-topic, the question isn't one that will make make experts think, "Finally, this is a statistics site I can get something from." It's just too basic to serve as an outstanding example of what the site should be about. If the question were more like, "I'm fitting a linear regression to a dependent variable with high kurtosis. How will this affect the model?", I think it would suit the aims of the StackExchange sites better - i.e., to create knowledge-sharing communities of experts. – Matt Parker Jun 9 '10 at 23:06

@Matt Parker, great response Matt, I agree with you. – chollida Jun 10 '10 at 17:02

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added by Anon Jun 2 '10 at 3:22

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added by Foster Brereton Jun 2 '10 at 20:48

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added by Mehper C. Palavuzlar Jun 3 '10 at 10:38

up vote 1 down vote

added by Karsten W. Jun 12 '10 at 11:57

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added by Rob Hyndman May 25 '10 at 2:18

closed as off topic by Ian Turner, Mike Mazur, Shane, François G. Dorais, Michel de Ruiter Jun 15 '10 at 20:00

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

NOT BASEBALL STATS! I GET IT! haha – Joel Spolsky♦ May 25 '10 at 3:16

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added by Rob Hyndman May 25 '10 at 2:21

	Should I use a three-dimensional bar chart, stacked bar chart, side-by-side barchart, or something else? – Rob Hyndman May 25 '10 at 2:21
	I voted yes, because I believe that data visualization is just as important as the actual data analysis. But, I am assuming that you will be presenting some information in the question about what the data looks like and what you are trying to analyze. – Waleed Al-Balooshi May 27 '10 at 12:27
	Data visualization is part of data analysis. In general, I am assuming that there will usually be more information than what is given in these short questions. – Rob Hyndman May 27 '10 at 12:32

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added by Rob Hyndman May 25 '10 at 5:46

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added by Harvey Motulsky May 25 '10 at 11:35

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added by Ciaran De Buitlear1 May 25 '10 at 15:19

Best of lists should not be encouraged, but this is likely to be something A LOT of visitors might be interested in. – Ivo Flipse May 25 '10 at 20:59

It's on topic, but is subjective and argumentative. The body of the question might remedy this by explaining what problem the asker is trying to solve (i.e. best for what?). – Anton Geraschenko May 27 '10 at 6:48

This seems more suited for a community wiki type of questions. I think it needs to be rephrased. Maybe "What tool is most used in Econometric Analysis and Why?" – Waleed Al-Balooshi May 27 '10 at 12:21

voted up, but subjective no? – George May 28 '10 at 4:48

Subjective, unless Community Wiki. Compare stackoverflow.com/questions/1711/… – György Andrasek Jun 3 '10 at 2:49

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added by Rog May 27 '10 at 4:57

	Such a common problem that people don't understand. Really improtant to have a good resource for this sort of thing. – Ian Turner May 27 '10 at 13:35
	I agree that it's important to have a good resource for it, but I just don't want to see a thousand "How do I graph Plot X in Software Y?" questions. They are essentially limitless and are probably better answered in the program's help files. – Matt Parker Jun 2 '10 at 23:55
	You will get an answer on SO for that – Karsten W. Jun 6 '10 at 15:17

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added by Juan A. Navarro, edited by Rob Hyndman Jun 2 '10 at 4:18

closed as off topic by Yacoby, Karsten W., therefromhere, Joe Mako, Charles Stewart Jun 7 '10 at 12:35

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

Appropriate for SO but not for this site I think. – Anon Jun 2 '10 at 3:02

*scrape data...? – d03boy Jun 2 '10 at 4:06

d03boy - let's say there's a government website with hundreds and hundreds of tables of data that I want. If the tables and pages have a pretty regular structure, you can write a program to cycle through all of the pages, collect the data, and create a database on your local file. – Matt Parker Jun 16 '10 at 23:42

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added by Stu Thompson May 27 '10 at 6:30

closed as off topic by Ian Turner, Yacoby, walkytalky, Harlan, Sinan Ünür Jun 16 '10 at 22:13

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

Do you mean Excel 2007 or 2010? – Waleed Al-Balooshi May 27 '10 at 12:35

2008 is the Mac version and it is actually different enough to the Windows version to cause this sort of problem. I would argue this question should be better sited on a Microsoft Excel Stack Exchange. – Ian Turner May 27 '10 at 13:36

Yup, I meant Mac. Clarified. – Stu Thompson May 27 '10 at 15:33

I agree with Splash. I really don't want this to be a MS Excel plots help site. There are plenty of resources on the web to help people with Office products, but precious few that are much use for statistics. – Matt Parker Jun 2 '10 at 23:59

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added by Menno May 27 '10 at 8:37

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added by Ian Turner May 27 '10 at 15:00

To basic question imo – Peter Smit Jun 16 '10 at 17:29

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added by Ian Turner May 27 '10 at 21:06

I'd thin this question is too broad. Which language? What output format? What inputs? – chollida Jun 1 '10 at 18:39

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added by Jon Seigel May 28 '10 at 0:30

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added by Jon Seigel May 28 '10 at 0:31

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added by Harvey Motulsky May 28 '10 at 3:04

I posted this to start a discussion about analyzing molecular biology data. I think analysis of sequences, homology, genetic linkage, etc. are in another world and belongs on another site. – Harvey Motulsky May 28 '10 at 3:05

... like biostar.stackexchange.com. – Matt Parker May 28 '10 at 6:19

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added by Jay Stevens May 29 '10 at 12:24

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added by Anon Jun 2 '10 at 3:26

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added by Anon Jun 2 '10 at 3:53

closed as off topic by Matt Parker, chollida, Rob Hyndman, Peter K., Mike Mazur Jun 5 '10 at 10:33

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

	Pretty clearly a question for StackOverflow. When I'm optimizing code, I want computer geniuses picking it over. – Matt Parker Jun 3 '10 at 0:01
	That was the intent! I wanted it be declared as off-topic as I agree with your assessment.To my surprise most of us saw it as on topic. :-) – Anon Jun 3 '10 at 0:21

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added by Menno Jun 2 '10 at 9:10

Probably too general a question. – Pedro J. Aphalo Jun 8 '10 at 13:28

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added by robin girard, edited by WikiSpeedia hang-around Jun 3 '10 at 21:58

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added by Mehper C. Palavuzlar Jun 3 '10 at 10:59

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added by Simon Nickerson Jun 3 '10 at 19:04

closed as off topic by delete, Shane, Pedro J. Aphalo, Peter Smit, Harvey Motulsky Jun 8 '10 at 16:26

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

Too variable. it depends on the country, how many licenses you buy and the price at the time you ask. – chollida Jun 3 '10 at 22:55

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added by Peter Smit Jun 8 '10 at 10:30

Maybe one sentence doesn't catch this question completely. Here randomization is meant in the context of statistical significance testing. – Peter Smit Jun 16 '10 at 17:26

up vote -1 down vote

added by Rob Hyndman May 25 '10 at 2:17

closed as off topic by Noah Snyder, Joe Mako, Shane, François G. Dorais, Maxim Zaslavsky Jun 8 '10 at 19:31

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

A better question might be "What factors determine the unemployment rate? – Troggy May 27 '10 at 4:20

This question sits on the thin line between on- and off-topic. As an econometrician, I would be interested in where I can find unemployment rates for certain countries. So, this could be an on topic question if you replace the "what is" by "where can I find". – Waleed Al-Balooshi May 27 '10 at 12:11

For me it is totally off topic. The site should be about data analysis etc. rather than how to gether the data. Getting general data covers just too many fields that are probably better suited to their own Stack Exchanges. – Ian Turner May 27 '10 at 12:40

I agree with Splash. Questions like "How can I identify factors associated with the unemployment rate?" seem on-topic to me, and maybe "How are unemployment rates calculated?", but this is a reference question. Just because a question refers to a statistic doesn't mean it's a question about statistical analysis. – Matt Parker May 27 '10 at 18:22

This is exactly what Wolfram Alpha is for. Incidentally it's 4.1% (world rank 157th) (2008 estimate) – blissapp Jun 2 '10 at 23:12

up vote -1 down vote

added by Harvey Motulsky May 25 '10 at 14:14

No tech support here. This site should be for statistical principles, not details of one particular program. – Harvey Motulsky May 25 '10 at 14:15

up vote -1 down vote

added by Harvey Motulsky May 25 '10 at 14:16

	This is trickier, but I think this is a slippery slope to a boring site. I'd keep it focussed on questions about analyses, not tools. – Harvey Motulsky May 25 '10 at 14:17
	Like you say, if you start forbidden EVERYTHING that's not 'theoretical' you might end up with a very boring site. I would leave it be – Ivo Flipse May 26 '10 at 21:32
	I think general tool questions are ok. I wouldn't want to see tech support questions for a specific tool, but I think it is useful to allow questions on what tool to use for a specific type of analysis. – Rob Hyndman May 27 '10 at 6:29

up vote -1 down vote

added by Mike Mazur May 27 '10 at 2:54

	For example: how likely is it that Steve will be in his office at 10:00am based on his presence history on IRC? – Mike Mazur May 27 '10 at 2:56
	I voted no. The idea of this site is to ask questions that have answers, not questions that require a text book to answer. Not to discuss perspectives. This one seems way too vague. If someone asked it, others might be able to point him towards the right text book. But there is no way to answer a question like that, so it doesn't really fit. One instance of that question like that is: What is the chance that the global mean temperature will be more than 4 degrees C warmer than now in 50 years? Many books have been written on that. – Harvey Motulsky May 27 '10 at 3:04
	I'm not a statistician, so please take this with a grain of salt. I think this question has merits. One potential answer could be: Try a markov model. Here's a link. Or, use Bayseian statistics, etc. It could end up being a very useful resource on the web. – Scott Wisniewski May 27 '10 at 3:39
	Voting no because it is too vague. A more specific question with context might be ok. – Rob Hyndman May 27 '10 at 3:44
	I agree Scott, it just needs to be more specific. I'll add a similar question that I think would be more appropriate. – Rob Hyndman May 27 '10 at 4:32

up vote -1 down vote

added by Juan A. Navarro May 27 '10 at 5:30

up vote -1 down vote

added by Ian Turner May 27 '10 at 11:52

closed as off topic by ilhan, Peter K., Rob Hyndman, Jeromy Anglim, Anon Jun 5 '10 at 12:45

This question does not relate to the topic of the proposal.
It was closed as part of an automated migration of off-topic to close votes on September 29, 2011.

Sounds like homework – Rob Hyndman May 27 '10 at 11:57

I actually took this question from here: newscientist.com/article/…. It is actually more involved than you think, but really is a statisitics 'game'. I asked the question to see if users want this sort of game on the Stack Exchange. – Ian Turner May 27 '10 at 12:04

This site is about data analysis, not probability. But a few brain teasers will make it more fun. More fun = more visitor = more chance of critical mass. So I vote yes. – Harvey Motulsky May 27 '10 at 13:32

Wait, isn't this one of those problems where people just can't seem to agree on the outcome? (Like the Monty Hall Problem) – Menno May 27 '10 at 18:01

Probability goes hand-in-hand with statistics, so I don't see why that subject would be off-topic. That said, this is a bad question. – Shane Jun 7 '10 at 13:42

up vote -1 down vote

added by cletus May 27 '10 at 23:29

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added by Jay Stevens May 29 '10 at 12:26

up vote -1 down vote

added by Stu Thompson May 30 '10 at 9:08

	(Or 'how can i do something dodgy in the world of statistics analysis') – Stu Thompson May 30 '10 at 9:09
	Do you mean STATA? – Rob Hyndman Jun 2 '10 at 2:01
	More approroate for STATA tech support or SO perhaps? – Anon Jun 2 '10 at 3:07
	STATA, yes. (Been working with physical SATA hard drives lately :P) The edit feature is broken for me again...will write Area51 kids. – Stu Thompson Jun 2 '10 at 5:17
	@Anon: Write STATA about how to hack their own software? Did you read the questions? – Stu Thompson Jun 2 '10 at 5:17