Mary W. Gray

Gender and Mathematics: Mythology and Misogyny

The disadvantages faced by women in mathematics in career access and earning power are not accounted for by cognitive and psycho-social gender differences (Linn & Hyde, 1993). Thus the mythology does not explain the reality. Does the misogyny?

The Statistics of Genocide

In the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide, an attempt was made to use sampling to facilitate bringing alleged offenders to trial. This involvement led to the questioning of the role of statistics in the determination of whether killings can be characterized as genocide. Notwithstanding that the legal definition of genocide contains no reference to the magnitude of the offense, considerable attention has been focused on attempts at quantification. We review some prominent examples of alleged genocide and the techniques used to specify their magnitude.

A conversation about implicit bias

Explicit bias reflects our perceptions at a conscious level. In contrast, implicit bias is unintentional and operates at a level below our conscious awareness. Implicit stereotypes shaping implicit biases are widely studied in criminal justice, medicine, CEO selection at Fortune 500 companies, etc. However, the problem of unconscious bias remains. E.g., while women constitute an increasing proportion of all STEM undergraduates, they still make up only a small proportion of faculty members at research universities, and they are substantially under-represented in organizational leadership and as recipients of professional awards and prizes. Can we afford to have unintentional perceptions continue to hinder the success and advancement of women and other underrepresented groups? Can we afford to continue to underuse human capital in science? This session at the 2015 Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) aimed to illuminate what statisticians need to know and do to break the glass ceiling of implicit bias.

Pay Equity Through Job Evaluation: A Case Study

Heres how one midwestern school district acted to compensate jobs traditionally held by women more fairly.

The Odds of Justice: Is Statistics Down for the Count?

Statistics took a beating in last year’s post-election existential crisis. Part of the problem was, of course, that probability is just that. Too many fail to understand that a 71.4% probability does not mean certainty, even if it comes from Nate Silver. Unfortunately, many of the polls concerning the U.S. November 2016 election and the earlier U.K. Brexit vote relied on questionable methods in making their forecasts. The herd instinct (tempered by whether you herd in the direction Is Statistics Down for the Count?

Accumulating Evidence Of The Impact Of Voter ID Laws: Student Engagement In The Political Process

ABSTRACT Recently, voter ID laws have been instituted, modified, or overturned in many states in the U.S. As these laws change, it is important to have accurate measures of their impact. We present the data collection methods and results of class projects that attempted to quantify the impact of the voter ID laws in areas of three states. We also summarize the types of data used to assess the impact of voter ID laws and discuss how our data address some of the shortcomings of the usual techniques for assessing the impact of voter ID laws.

The Odds of Justice: Who Gets to Vote?

No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. The Constitution forbids restrictions on the right to vote of certain citizens in the 15th Amendment:

The Odds of Justice: Leveling the Playing Field

With the focus on “narrowly tailored,” higher education institutions adopted a variety of admission procedures through the years, but the first successful attack on affirmative action in higher education came in the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal’s decision in Hopwood v. Texas (1996). The University of Texas law school had used a composite index of undergraduate GPA and LSAT scores to place candidates for admission in three categories of admission leveling the playing field Litigation involving the statistics of higher education is once again before the Supreme Court in the current term, as Fisher v. University of Texas is set to be heard by the court. Whether the court still considers diversity of the student body to be a compelling interest that permits the use of race in any way—or whether there is any such compelling interest—is at stake, with statistics poised to play a role.

The Odds of Justice: P-values: What Do They Prove?

Statisticians face a difficult audience when asked to explain p-values, confidence intervals, standard deviations, and many more complex statistical models to judges and juries—especially when the ...

The Odds of Justice: Where is the Reverend Bayes When Needed?

51 Originalism is an interpretation of the U.S. Constitution holding that only what was in the minds of the drafters should be used in determining what it now means. The doctrine is alive and well today, influencing contemporary decisions of the conservative faction of the Supreme Court and on the stage in Washington, D.C., where Justice Antonin Scalia is currently being portrayed in “The Originalist” at the city’s Arena Stage. Might an originalist think that the Second Amendment’s “the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” means that one can walk the streets with automatic weapons, since in 1789 they were not prohibited? What might originalism mean with respect to statistics and the law? What constitutes admissible scientific—including statistical—evidence has been an evolving concept. The first formal guidance came in 1923 from Frye v. United States: the proffered evidence must be generally acceptable as reliable in the relevant scientific community, as indicated, for example, by having been peer-reviewed. For federal and many state courts, the Frye test has been replaced by a ruling making the judge the gatekeeper for admissibility of expert evidence, evidence that must be “relevant to the task at hand” and “rest on a reliable foundation,” as formulated in 1993 in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals. Further, the Daubert Court decreed that a conclusion will qualify as “scientific knowledge” only if it can be demonstrated that it is the product of sound “scientific methodology.” What is to be considered in establishing the validity of scientific testimony was codified in Federal Evidence Rule 702 (but as factors, not as a “rule”): Where is the reverend bayes When needed?