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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (177778)	11/8/2003 12:49:22 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1575036

When controlling for component, grade, and salary, we found that the average minority is currently residing approximately one-third step lower than the average white and the average woman is currently residing approximately one-half step lower than the average man. These effects are statistically significant." That doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. The grade or salary would presumably the thing they are measuring not something controlled for to isolate something they want to measure. Assuming, for the sake of argument, that its just poorly phrased and that the data is accurate it seems like it could very well be statistically significant, This is what I meant by your getting caught up in the semantics at the expense of the main point of the article........so much so I couldn't figure out at first to which article you were referring. The main issue is that parts of the report were blacked out; the second point is that there are inequalities in the department based on race and gender. And a third, much more subtle point................its too early to discontinue AA. but "statistically significant" merely would be a reason to accept the data (at least until better data comes along), it doesn't mean that the data automatically supports whatever argument you want to use it to make. You still have to actually lay out the specific argument. Arguments often benefit from being backed by facts but facts alone don't make for an argument. The real question is why was the "statistically significant" data blacked out. Derrick Jackson does make an argument of sorts at the end, but its more about the Bush administration than it is about discrimination or affirmative action. Discrimination and AA are just part of the issue. In three short years, the Bush administration has developed a history of withholding important information. Also something can be blacked out because it is thought to be unsubstantiated not just for political reasons or an obsession on security and secrets. I am tired of these excuses. "Blacked out" means data is being hidden for some reason just as VP Cheney is hidden for some weird reason. ted