The Limits of Observation

[RedsManRick]

I often find myself rambling on this topic, the limits of human observation, when trying to defend the sabermetric viewpoint. However, this wonderful article covers it all. It's intended for hockey fans, but is applicable for any sport fan and is written in plain English.

http://blogs.thescore.com/nhl/2010/11/05/the-limits-of-observation/

It's a long read, but worth it. Here are the some of the topics it touches on:

Cognition is Conservative
-confirmation bias
-cognitive dissonance
-availability heuristic
-halo effect
-illusory correlation
-post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy

Attention and Memory
-human memory is re-constructive in nature

The Constraints of Time and the Perception of Means
-small sample size

Enjoy!

[Joseph]

Thank Rick. Lengthy read for an online article these days, but very salient points all around.

[traderumor]

Don't most/all of these issues also create problems with data collecters for statistics? :)

[kpresidente]

^ Garbage in, garbage out.

[corkedbat]

I often find myself rambling on this topic, the limits of human observation, when trying to defend the sabermetric viewpoint. However, this wonderful article covers it all. It's intended for hockey fans, but is applicable for any sport fan and is written in plain English.

http://blogs.thescore.com/nhl/2010/11/05/the-limits-of-observation/

It's a long read, but worth it. Here are the some of the topics it touches on:

Cognition is Conservative
-confirmation bias
-cognitive dissonance
-availability heuristic
-halo effect
-illusory correlation
-post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy

Attention and Memory
-human memory is re-constructive in nature

The Constraints of Time and the Perception of Means
-small sample size

Enjoy!

Uh, you're talking about doing away with the DH there, aren't ya? :confused:



:D

[westofyou]

Written for Hockey, a sport that off the puck has WAY more effect on the game then most sports, thus the focus on stats only will often be somewhat gray.