Hi One of the additional things this story brought to my mind when I read it this morning was the challenge of even determining whether there was a correlation given the many unknowns (e.g., how often "my way" is sung in Karaoke bars in Philippines). Belief about an association, let alone causation, appears to depend simply on frequency of one cell in a 2x2 contingency table (i.e., shooting + "my way").
With respect to correlation versus causation, Philippine story could also be basis for challenging questions about why murder rates vary so much around the world and across regions within nations. There are no shortage of hypotheses (availability of guns, poverty or income inequality, psychological factors like honour and machismo, criminal activity, capital punishment, lack of police or effective regulation of citizens, ...), but there are also contrary positions on most of the theoretically-related factors. A real challenge to make sense of and determine how one would ever find persuasive evidence for causal connections. Take care Jim James M. Clark Professor of Psychology 204-786-9757 204-774-4134 Fax [email protected] >>> "DeVolder Carol L" <[email protected]> 07-Feb-10 7:18:37 PM >>> I think this one fits into this discussion, but it could also illustrate so much more... http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/world/asia/07karaoke.html Carol Carol L. DeVolder, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology Chair, Department of Psychology St. Ambrose University 518 West Locust Street Davenport, Iowa 52803 Phone: 563-333-6482 e-mail: [email protected] web: http://web.sau.edu/psychology/psychfaculty/cdevolder.htm The contents of this message are confidential and may not be shared with anyone without permission of the sender. --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13251.645f86b5cec4da0a56ffea7a891720c9&n=T&l=tips&o=409 or send a blank email to leave-409-13251.645f86b5cec4da0a56ffea7a89172...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=415 or send a blank email to leave-415-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
