Using an internet forum for Social Research

[LittleGrizzly]

There are always exceptions.

Well i think you can find a decent amount of correlation to go between food and jobs, on top of what i already said, a person with a really good job would much more likely eat delicacys and luxurys, a person with a crap job thats hard work will want something cheap and quick...

Its not a huge correlation but more than an exception to the rule i think, someone well read on this type of thing could probably make a rough guess at the type of job someone has by looking at thier diet. the wieghtlifter giving himself away with his muscle foods, the ceo exposing himself via his luxury coorporate lunches including all kinds of delicacys, the factory worker who can't be bothered to do much more than stick something in the microwave or grab a burger on the way home... not a huge correlation but a fairly decent one...

[A Terribly Harmful Name]

Ah, statistics statistics! All of them are useless.

[LittleGrizzly]

There are 3 kinds of lie's, Lies, Damned lies... and statistics!

Did you know 43% of all statistics are made up on the spot...

[CountArach]

There are always exceptions.

Well i think you can find a decent amount of correlation to go between food and jobs, on top of what i already said, a person with a really good job would much more likely eat delicacys and luxurys, a person with a crap job thats hard work will want something cheap and quick...

Its not a huge correlation but more than an exception to the rule i think, someone well read on this type of thing could probably make a rough guess at the type of job someone has by looking at thier diet. the wieghtlifter giving himself away with his muscle foods, the ceo exposing himself via his luxury coorporate lunches including all kinds of delicacys, the factory worker who can't be bothered to do much more than stick something in the microwave or grab a burger on the way home... not a huge correlation but a fairly decent one...

Well of course there would be a level of socio-economic bias in the data. At the same time though I would contest that it is a direct result of the job someone does, but rather it is more a factor of the corresponding pay rates. Further, there is no denying that many of those in the lower socio-economic barriers would enjoy lobster and may have had it once - thus proving to be statistical anomalies.

Then we must also look at the inter-relation between race and socio-economic factors in determining food. For example many minority groups play into lower classes and as such there might be a strong leaning towards those food types in determining favourite foods.

This data sample could go on forever... now I am actually interested.

[seireikhaan]

CA- the whole point of statistics is to create generalities. No statistic is perfect, but they can be very helpful, so long as those in need of them use them properly.

[CountArach]

CA- the whole point of statistics is to create generalities. No statistic is perfect, but they can be very helpful, so long as those in need of them use them properly.

Yes I know, but that is the problem I would have with this data - the whole purpose appears to be to draw false conclusions. However, now I am really interested in exploring the similarities between socio-economic class and favourite food type.

[seireikhaan]

Yes I know, but that is the problem I would have with this data - the whole purpose appears to be to draw false conclusions. However, now I am really interested in exploring the similarities between socio-economic class and favourite food type.

Not at all. If that were the point, why do businesses utilize statistics so much? They need to know who to market a product to, where to market it to, where to expand, how they are perceived, etc... Not, of course, that statistics can't be used to draw false conclusions- however, this tends to be much more out of political or cultural convictions, not out of any fault of the statistic. Again, a statistic is just a number- what you draw from it is what's truly important.

[CountArach]

Not at all. If that were the point, why do businesses utilize statistics so much? They need to know who to market a product to, where to market it to, where to expand, how they are perceived, etc... Not, of course, that statistics can't be used to draw false conclusions- however, this tends to be much more out of political or cultural convictions, not out of any fault of the statistic. Again, a statistic is just a number- what you draw from it is what's truly important.

I can't help but feel we are arguing around each other... yet, there are most certainly ways that statistics can be made completely useless and redundant - by way of providing information about a product/person that is misleading then trying to draw an opinion about that. Look at just about any internet poll that links to a damning story for an example of this.

[Vuk]

I can't help but feel we are arguing around each other... yet, there are most certainly ways that statistics can be made completely useless and redundant - by way of providing information about a product/person that is misleading then trying to draw an opinion about that. Look at just about any internet poll that links to a damning story for an example of this.

lol, here is the thing with statistics, they represent something (whether that thing is important or not), simple. You just gotta be smart to tell what they really represent and if it is meaningful or not. It is easy for people to twist statistics around to make em look like something else, but they are always what they are, people just need to be smart enough to tell for themselves what the statistics mean. The fault therefore lies not in the statistics, but in the dishonesty of people who try to use them dishonestly, and the stupidity of people who are not smart enough to tell what they really mean. We just need to use predjudice when looking at them.

[Vuk]

lol, I never said that I would suggest cause and effect. The reason that I am gathering this data is actually unrelated. It is for an economics study, and different professions have been put into different income and social class brackets. This is what is going to compared to diet. I did not mean to get into my project, just suggest how perfectly useless the idea of using an internet forum for social research is. :P

[Cute Wolf]

Well, all you must have is honesty to take the pool.... and I believe there was a lot of honest man here....