Quantitude

In this week’s episode, our 150th and the last of season 5, Greg and Patrick hear from five people at different stages of their academic journey, who share some of their concerns about a career in academia. Along the way we also mention: deathscrolling, Patrick’s fuzzy blanket, slow motion ballerina, Twix, academia infomercial, Twitter admins, micromanaging, pilot training, young Turks at the gate...

In this week's episode Patrick and Greg somehow manage to tie together pretending to be sick with game shows with zombies with conspiracy boards to explore the remarkable inter-relations among probability distributions, starting with the Bernoulli and biting their way through the binomial, z, t, chi-square, F, and beyond. Along the way they also discuss having a 122 degree temperature, playin...

In this week's episode Greg and Patrick talk about both structural equation modeling and directed acyclic graphs, or DAGs, where they are similar and where they are different, and try to provide a Rosetta Stone for translating back and forth between the two. Along the way they also discuss pop, garage sales, thinking about excessive thought, roly-polies, potato bugs, been to the cinema, sweet...

In this week's episode Patrick and Greg explore the incredibly cool topic of survival analysis, which is a set of techniques that allows for powerful tests of predictors of the amount of time to experiencing an event; yet these models are not often used in many areas of study. Along the way they also discuss the date of your death, running with scissors, Patrick's Audi A8, because she&ap...

In this week's episode, Greg and Patrick talk about the challenges of combining confirmatory factor analysis and multilevel data, and the underappreciated but absolutely critical role that theory plays in choosing the proper model for your constructs. Along the way they also discuss learning in a second language, torn meniscuseseses, concert C trumpets, nosy neighbors, forts of equations, art...

In this week's episode Greg and Patrick discuss the assessment of global vs. local model fit and they argue that although global measures of fit can be useful, carefully assessing local fit may be of much greater importance in practice. Along the way the also discuss cheap beach house rentals, misplaced sand dunes, Mrs. Lincoln, the child catcher, hushpuppies, cockroach feces, academia as com...

In this week's episode Patrick and Greg provide an introduction to the Item Response Theory model: what it is, how it relates to traditional factor analysis, and how this modem approach improves upon some of the limitations of classical test theory.  Along the way they also mention weinerness, memorizing Latin for punishment, eggszampke, in ether words, ITR, switching a and b, I’m not defensi...

In this week’s episode, Patrick and Greg play with some of the basics of probability in the context of some classic, fun, and often counterintuitive examples.  Along the way they also discuss arguments with relatives, a feel for the roulette wheel, Xeroxing your butt, “The coin has spoken.”, Quantitude BooqQlub, the Bellagio Fountains, Clooney and Pitt look-alikes, the Flippier, Rosencrantz and Gu...

In this week's episode Greg and Patrick are honored to visit with Yi Feng, a quantitative methodologist at UCLA, as she helps them understand classification and regression tree analysis. She describes the various ways in which these models can be used, and how these can serve to inform both prediction and explanation. Along the way they also discuss looking pensive, drunken 3-way interactions...

In this week's episode Greg and Patrick talk about Simpson’s Paradox: what it is, examples of where it occurs in real life, and why we might not really need to think about it as a paradox at all.  Along the way they also discuss Apple Vision, The Simpsons predicting the future, sitting too close to the TV, low levels of radiation, Paul the octopus, Blinky, shtuff, duck duck duck, Jonathan the...

In this week's episode Greg and Patrick take a walk down memory lane to rediscover classical test theory,  although they revisit this through the lens of modern latent variable models. They describe how these classical methods are actually highly restricted latent measurement models and they explore how these restrictions can be relaxed and even tested. Along the way they also discuss weird d...

In this week's episode Patrick and Greg launch a new occasional series called Stuff You Should Know. The topic for today is regression to the mean: what the heck is it, how does it arise in every day life, and what can we do about it. Along the way they also discuss the space-time continuum, Kai Ryssdal, inflation, witches of MacBeth, the hidden curriculum, oh dang, sh*t (ummm...STUFF) you sh...

In this week's episode Greg and Patrick talk about confidence intervals: symmetric and asymmetric, asymptotic and bootstrapped, how to interpret them, and how not to interpret them. Along the way they also mention tire pressure gauge mysteries, conference travel reimbursement, phases of the moon, gyroscopic effects, baseball walk-of-shame, why people hate us, settling out of court, confidence...

In this week's episode Patrick and Greg have great fun talking about meta-analysis with Paschal Sheeran, a social psychologist from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He describes what meta-analysis is, what it offers, and how to apply it in your own work. Along the way they also discuss taking off into the north vs the south, flipping people off, being subtle, metaphysics, say...

In this week's episode, marking the fifth Quantitude Holiday Celebration, Greg and Patrick argue about their favorite holiday movies, including whether Die Hard counts as one or not; they then proceed to discuss several statistical ideas that also seem to Die Hard. Along the way they talk about so much gibberish that we don't even bother listing it here. Stay in contact with Quantitude!...

In this week's episode Greg and Patrick explore alternative parameterizations of the SEM-based latent curve model to capture various forms of nonlinearity, some that are approximations and others that are exact. Along the way they also discuss Swifties, remastering your life, bull testicles, the world's worst RA job, Yerkes-Dodson law, show a little ankle, the St. Louis Arch, bachelorett...

In today’s episode Greg and Patrick talk about regularization, which includes ridge, LASSO, and elastic net procedures for variable selection within the general linear model and beyond. Along the way they also mention Bowdlerizing, The Family Shakespeare, disturbance in the force, McNeish on his bike, Spandex, C’mon guys wait up, the altar of unbiasedness, Curranizing, shooting arrows, stepwise go...

In today’s episode, Greg and Patrick dig into Confirmatory Composite Analysis, a very clever way to get formative factors and their causal indicators into the traditional structural equation modeling framework, along with any other latent factors and their effect indicators that might already be in the model. Along the way they also mention full-contact Wordle, being grounded, spelling bees, state...

In today’s episode, Patrick and Greg talk about the challenge of having causal indicators of formative factors within an analytical framework that is historically dominated by effect indicators and latent factors — and the critical importance of getting your arrows right. Along the way they also mention: self help books, habits, Hagrid and the giants, When Arrows Attack, The Handbook of SEM, the e...

In today’s episode, Patrick and Greg talk about fun extensions to the basic confirmatory factor model, including higher order models, bifactor or residualized models, and multitrait-multimethod models. Along the way they also mention microscope lab, burning ants, substitute teaching, Cool or Creepy?, Monet, Clueless, haystacks, hotdogs, What are you thinking?, pennies and pounds, party like it’s 1...

In this week’s episode Greg and Patrick take advantage of the recent expiration of a statute of limitations that legally allows them to talk about the multilevel model: what it is, when we might use it, and extremely cool extensions that it allows. Along the way they also discuss hostile federal judges, McNeish, airing of grievances, Gauss and Markov’s corpses, Sesame Street, distributional baguet...

In this week's episode Patrick and Greg enlist the help of six quantitative methodological scholars, who share a wide variety of fertile ground for quantitative research, which should be useful for students seeking dissertation topics as well as anyone interested in active methodological areas. Along the way they also mentioned: Kill Bill, The Waltons (with corpses), taking away grandpa'...

In this week's episode Patrick and Greg plumb the depths of what is a dissertation and what purpose does it serve. They are aided in the use of an AI language interpreter to translate old man grousing to positive and supportive advice for students as they discuss the strengths and weaknesses of a dissertation project. Along the way they also mention: pumpkin spice, marching bands, Maximus Dec...

In this week’s episode, Greg and Patrick talk about the terrifying, the feared, the dreaded … Multicollinearity. Blamed for a multitude of general linear model problems, they dare to ask the question: “But should it be?” Along the way they also mention: having your stump ground out, fall guys, Keyser Soze, croissants and breadsticks, baguettes in space space space, mostly dead, the Cliffs of Moher...

In this week's episode, the first of Season 5, Patrick and Greg explore the very cool world of receiver operating characteristic, or ROC, curves: what they are, how they work, and why we can give partial thanks to Winston Churchill for their existence. Along the way they also mention: advent calendars, lasagna for 8, Honey Nut Cheerios, radio detection and ranging, flock of seagulls, broken p...