Quantitude

In this week's episode Patrick and Greg discuss alternative methods for latent variable scaling, a topic about which we are often taught don't make no nevermind but in actually can potentially make great nevermind. Along the way they also discuss favorite mathematicians, speed squares, drill bits, the quarter pounder, barley corns, butts and hogsheads, one Helen versus one Herbert, microcenturies, parlor tricks, being overserved, the Great Gonzo, but wait...there's less, get on with it, and hiding the body.

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In this week’s episode Greg and Patrick discuss Bayes Factors: what they are, what they aren't, and how we might use them in practice. Along the way we also mention Madam Flora, Big Psychic, haters, Alaska cruises, the gift, dead grandfathers, bait and switches, owing Roy Levy a favor, doddering old frequentists, lipstick and pigs, Kimi Antonelli, accordions, elevators of blood, life choices, and the Titanic.

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In this week's episode Greg and Patrick explore the fun but sometimes confusing world of probability, odds, log odds, and odds ratios, both when encountered in statistics and in every day life. Along the way they also discuss empty airplane hangars, drink carts, Qalshi, Costco hot dogs, the tush push, Quantitude International, The Blues Brothers, spelled with a Q, the vigorish, Mr. Peabody, a probability of 1.8, what the log giveth, and horse steroids.

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In this week's episode Patrick and Greg have a somewhat circuitous conversation about the academic curriculum vitae across the professional lifespan: what it is, why we have it, and what kinds of things may or may not go on it. Along the way they also discuss Antiques Roadshow, Duolingo streaks, Oscar, Greg's front door, Teddy Roosevelt, sarcastic Spanish, Coors Light as a religion, the doodad drawer, riptide warning flags, flaming trash dumpsters, a middle seat on Southwest Airlines, you got two minutes, danger Will Robinson, where's Waldo, and God's most thankless task.

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In this week's episode Greg and Patrick are honored to have a discussion with Paul Allison who is a sociologist and a titan in the field of quantitative methodology. Although they could talk with Paul about a dozen different topics, they narrow it down to his seminal work in longitudinal fixed effects models. Along the way they also discuss ren fairs, frilly shirts, turkey legs, drama kids, shiny beans, psychohistory, not having command of Eigenvalues, the world's shortest abstract, Yale not liking you, the Quantitude topic spinner, cows nested in herds, people who should know better, Jack LaLanne, the three laws of robotics, and the denouement.

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In this week's episode Greg and Patrick have a loosely organized discussion about metrics, including the pros and cons of raw versus standardized scales and the advantages of having multiple metrics for the same effect. Along the way they also discuss the Odyssey, Dulles airport, driving in Canada, Smitty's corpse, friends in low places, two minute warnings, He's Not Here, Carolina basketball, fixing it in post, buying firewood, Salzburg vs. Munich, 440 megahertz, Space Force, four middle schools, and get it together people.

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In this first episode of Season 8, Greg and Patrick decide it is deeply unfair that the podcast has not grown popular enough for them to buy their own Quantitude jet. They thus decide to make it a true crime podcast and dedicate the episode to revisiting the crimes and punishment of Null Hypothesis Significance Testing. They plagiarize other true crime podcasts to delve into the case and determine if justice was served.

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In this week's episode Greg and Patrick revisit their earlier promise of creating seven questions that will help you use your Quantitude to annoy the people you love. Having broken their promise, they are free to propose nine questions for which they seek a mnemonic device that does not include an acronym. Along the way they discuss relationship mandates, mildly inebriated brothers, hypoxic voice memos, fish vs. ice cubes, Smitty's corpse, talking to houseplants, statistical baggage, Henry V, Pascal's wager, My Very Educated Mother, massaging cryptids, making mischief, being cruciferous, Peter and Gary, pneumatic devices, and so that happened.

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In this week's episode Patrick and Greg talk about creating collectible trading cards for some of our favorite philosophers of science and the impact each has had on how we think about the practice of research. Along the way, they also discuss goose mating calls, collapsed sinuses, Riverdance!, Comfortably Numb, Pikachu and Jigglypuff, the back of Andrea Howard’s car, pseudoscience, ad hoc immunizing maneuvers, Well duh, reading Greek or eating paste, leeches and trephining, young Turks, Bart Simpson, frictionless vacuums, Hungarian homeboy, middle kids, protective belts, zone coverage, crossing the bar, V1, and pissing people off.

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In this In the Wild episode, Patrick and Greg conclude their unexpected cluster of college-themed conversations by turning their Quantitude loose on the ultimate question: is college worth it. In particular, they discuss how the multi-layered, individualized, and ever-changing nature of a college education make this question especially tricky to answer.

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In this week's episode Greg and Patrick have a wonderful time talking about qualitative research methods with Emily Namey. Emily has dedicated her entire career to qualitative research and she helps them better understand what it is, what it can do, and how it plays a critical role in understanding the complexities of human behavior. Along the way they also discuss rushing to and from LA, human heads, social props, gold stars, cut stories, hula dancing, PBS and National Geographic, a sad Italian, surfer dudes, middle managers, dead grandmothers, have skills-will travel, the Montagues and the Capulets, and being an Aries.

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In this week's episode Greg and Patrick follow-up their previous discussion of time-varying covariates with a conversation about methods for modeling the simultaneous development in two or more constructs over time. Along the way, they also discuss back tattoos, right lane closures, 49.5 lb luggage, Clear, the United lounge, Sharpies, Neo, the Urfdedurfdedingerdonger, living with mommy or daddy, Hairballs of Science, selfish bastards, Lick‘em Señor, phantom variable road trip, The Trouble with Tribbles, achieving our ideal rank, and apologies to the Dutch.

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In this week's episode, Greg and Patrick have great fun talking about the inclusion of time-varying covariates within growth models. They differentiate time invariant from time varying predictors, explore how these are differentially incorporated in the MLM and SEM, and conclude with both the strengths and the limitations of these models in practice. Along the way they also discuss Herb Alpert, incessant complaining, downtown Charlotte, Spinal Tap drummers, back dating checks, John Stuart Mills' corpse, time machines, blind squirrels, making good choices, pokes and prods, twitching eyes, mutually assured destruction, being quant curious, high school hallways, it's not fair, and chewing on your stitches.

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In this week's episode, Greg and Patrick magically find themselves at trivia night in the Rusty Mackerel pub in Teelin, Ireland, where a secret celebrity trivia master puts them on the spot to test their knowledge of statistics and statisticians. Along the way they also discuss St. Paprikash, no back story, Hooker Oklahoma, The Karate Kid 2 soundtrack, the fourth wall, magically delicious, tau or taw, taco inception, Ted 2, the ESPN curse, 4.1% alcohol, lightning rounds, doohickeys, never Belgium, and The Rev.

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In this week's episode Patrick and Greg talk with Ken Bollen who is a Professor of Psychology and Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In addition to exploring topics including home made rockets, sitars, and Jimi Hendrix, Ken talks with them about his brand new book Elements of Structural Equation Models and how he aspired to capture the many recent developments in SEM that have occurred since his monumental 1989 book on the same topic. Along the way they also discuss brushes with greatness, naughty bits, Mick Jagger, sharing a urinal, marginal notes, stranded in Brussels, matching t-shirts, asbestos walls, ruby rods, choosing between physics, chemistry, or terrorism, General Motors, the Berlin Wall, dust cover quotes, the fine print, side effects, elevated heart rates, cited but not read, Ravi Shankar, and matching BMWs.

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In this week's episode, Greg and Patrick discuss the decades-old method of the regression discontinuity design and describe how, when properly applied, this approach can strengthen our causal inferences when using quasi-experimental data. Along the way they also discuss Ravenclaw vs. Gryffindor, playing barefoot darts, gaming the system, I see dead people, Googling age cut-offs, Van Halen's "Jump", Zoom calls in class, senior discount day, pivots, building saddles, biggest guy in the bar, grunting tennis players, refusing a raise, when the cops show up, and the ninth step.

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In this In the Wild episode, Greg and Patrick turn their Quantitude loose on college rankings. In particular, they discuss whether these rankings are of use to anyone at all, and what issues we would need to have addressed in order for us to be able to answer that question.

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In this week's episode Greg and Patrick talk, for the third time, about power analysis, drawing on a recent paper by Greg and Yi Feng at UCLA, that reminds us how little we actually know when sample size planning, and then offers a concrete, cautious strategy for planning in the face of that uncertainty. Along the way they also mention Punxsutawney Phil, acknowledgments, bold ass titles, dark matter, driving angry, crystal balls, Ned Ryerson, shock absorbers, King Henry IV, yard sales and haggling, hurricane insurance in Denver, and perineums and pessimums.

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In this week's episode Patrick and Greg explore the incredibly cool possibilities offered by the time-varying effects model as a non-parametric alternative to the more restrictive time-varying covariate model. Along the way they also mention North Dakota, Cal Ripken Jr., pre-gaming, not trying to be funny, left lane guy, Walker Texas Ranger, smelling toast, Bob Ross, hearing sirens, muu-muus, petulant teenagers, two old men, boing boing boing, greedy bastards, hostage negotiations, going off the rails, and being made whole.

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This week's episode is the seventh annual Quantitude Holiday Special, but because Greg and Patrick both forgot to get each other something, they frantically regift one another some of their favorite sponsors from prior episodes. Along the way they also discuss Quantitude Studio A, two foot tall porcelain penguins, electric bug zappers, personalized cutting boards, balls dropping, Sir Francis Galton, Brad Pitt, the two people who actually listen to a full episode, Christmas Eve, Muffin the kitten, Alan Rickman, Mr. Riclpm, Top Gun, and an Easter egg from Jiffy.

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• Web page: https://quantitudepod.org/
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