actually, aimee, i hate to be a pedant (no i don't), but that's not exactly what a .5 correlation coefficient means. a .5 coefficient means that 50% of the data from one variable (the sexual orientation of a twin) is explained by the data from another variable (the sexual orienation of the other twin). if 50% of the time the twins' sexual orientations coincided (as aimee claimed), that would actually indicate that it is more likely for twins separated at birth to have different sexual orientations (assuming that homosexuals make up less than 50% of the population).

without any more knowledge of the context of the study, i can't say whether .5 represents a strong correlation or not, but i'd imagine with the underreporting of homosexuality that it's enough to draw a conclusion that the sexual orientations of twins separated at birth are indeed correlated.

this statistical public service announcement brought to you by kelsey's (almost) useless ap statistics class.

also, that's a great poem.

posted by Kelsey   [10:15 PM]

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