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Statistics vs Scientific Explanation
Laura Ibarra
Published: 2016/03/01
Abstract
The study presented by Fuerst and Kierkegaard is a statistical justification for a thesis suspected of racism. Because of the arbitrary choice of indicators and their correlations, this study represents a regression in everything social sciences have overcome till now: the idea that race determines our cognitive abilities. The deception lies already in the choice of variables and what they represent. This comment therefore focuses on showing the limited understanding of the variables, i.e., the estrangement from a context that gives them meaning, opening the possibility to its ideological use, although this is disguised by the use of scientific statistics.
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