Abelson's paradox is an
applied statistics
Statistics (from German: ', "description of a state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a scientific, industrial, or socia ...
paradox
A paradox is a logically self-contradictory statement or a statement that runs contrary to one's expectation. It is a statement that, despite apparently valid reasoning from true or apparently true premises, leads to a seemingly self-contradictor ...
identified by
Robert P. Abelson. The paradox pertains to a possible paradoxical relationship between the magnitude of the ''r''
2 (i.e.,
coefficient of determination
In statistics, the coefficient of determination, denoted ''R''2 or ''r''2 and pronounced "R squared", is the proportion of the variation in the dependent variable that is predictable from the independent variable(s).
It is a statistic used in t ...
)
effect size
In statistics, an effect size is a value measuring the strength of the relationship between two variables in a population, or a sample-based estimate of that quantity. It can refer to the value of a statistic calculated from a sample of data, the ...
and its practical meaning.
Abelson's example was obtained from the analysis of the ''r''
2 of
batting average
Batting average is a statistic in cricket, baseball, and softball that measures the performance of batters. The development of the baseball statistic was influenced by the cricket statistic.
Cricket
In cricket, a player's batting average is ...
in
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
and skill level. Although batting average is considered among the most significant characteristics necessary for success, the effect size was only a tiny
[Roseman, I. J., & Read, S. J. (2007). "Psychologist at play: Abelson's life and contributions to psychological science." ''Perspectives on Psychological Science'', 2(1), p. 91. ] 0.003.
See also
*
List of paradoxes
This list includes well known paradoxes, grouped thematically. The grouping is approximate, as paradoxes may fit into more than one category. This list collects only scenarios that have been called a paradox by at least one source and have their ...
References
Statistical paradoxes
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