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Cake day: June 5th, 2023

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  • The way statistics work, 1000 people is more than adequate for a population the size of Israel. It’s honestly overkill, if anything. The real question is “are the respondents a representative sample?” That is, is the way you chose who to question and how to question them introducing any systemic bias in your results? For this survey, if everyone lived in the West Bank, that would be a clear source of bias in the data. But if people are randomly selected by, say, phone number, then you would have to worry about more subtle biases before agreeing that the data is sound.



  • Liz@midwest.socialtoScience Memes@mander.xyzFor the little guys.
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    16 days ago

    It’s my understanding that ecologists generally agree we could eradicate human-biting mosquitos and it wouldn’t cause any real problems. Yes, other species eat them, but they’re not a critical species in any ecosystem, apparently.

    You know how there’s those stories of scientists introducing a species into an ecosystem for one reason or another, and all sorts of unintended consequences happen? Ever notice how those stories are all from around the 1950s and earlier? It’s because we actually got pretty good at thinking through all of the possible significant impacts. We only introduce/eradicate species now when we know doing so is a good idea and have worked through the consequences. But I want to be clear that I agree with your sentiment. You shouldn’t intentionally change an ecosystem without serious planning and consideration for what will happen when you do.