In this week's episode, the last of Season 6, Patrick and Greg pull back the curtain and reveal how the Quantitude sausage is actually made. Their motivation is to share their own joys and challenges in making a podcast in the hope that others might consider doing this themselves, whether it be for simple self-satisfaction or for using it as a free speech platform in a time when other avenues of communication are feeling increasingly compromised. Along the way they also discuss baring your soul,...
May 20, 2025•57 min•Season 6Ep. 21
In this week's episode Greg and Patrick explore the extremely clever yet inexplicably underused method of dominance analysis which offers a set of techniques for determining the relative importance of predictors in a regression model. Along the way they also discuss giving compliments, looking tired, Indy vs. F1, chicken paprikas, Gustav Holst, Fozzie Bear, not paying attention while recording, Lewis Hamilton pin-ups, Lando Calrissian, equation forts, being appallingly cool, making no sense at a...
Apr 29, 2025•42 min•Season 6Ep. 20
In this week's episode Patrick and Greg have some serious fun with song lyrics they misunderstood at some point in their personal lives. They then use this as a thinly veiled excuse to explore some very basic statistical things that they have also misunderstood at some point in their professional lives. Along the way they discuss over-engineered front ends, mumbling, Scaramouche, mondegreens, Tony Danza, Bingo Jed, word salad, containers, sitting next to Kurt Cobain, kicking cats, tiddles, ears ...
Apr 15, 2025•46 min•Season 6Ep. 19
In today’s episode Patrick and Greg talk about outcomes that are count variables: when you need to worry about them and what you can do about them within your analytical models. Along the way they also mention: Bela Lugosi, Vlad the Impaler, Patrick the Poker, Count Chocula, Count von Count, drunken bar brawls, secret distributions, K!, bio breaks, second favorite child, Animal Farm, Cliff’s notes, A’s in band, and more equal zeros. Stay in contact with Quantitude! Web page: quantitudepod.org Tw...
Apr 01, 2025•42 min•Season 6Ep. 18
In this week's episode Greg and Patrick explore both the challenges and the opportunities of age-period-cohort analysis when trying to understand the complexities of human behavior over time. Along the way they also discuss bachelor night, Dave Brubeck, pay phones, street lights, global nuclear war, lazy thinking, I'm not a crook, biking to grandmas, HMS Pinafore, the Beatles, aggressive mice, trash snakes, and getting high at A-Basin. Stay in contact with Quantitude! Web page: quantitudepod.org...
Mar 18, 2025•42 min•Season 6Ep. 17
In this week's episode Greg and Patrick shine a flashlight on correspondence analysis and find that this is an extraordinarily cool yet often neglected method similar to factor analysis but applied to nominal contingency tables. Along the way they also discuss online personality tests, marital therapy, modern antibiotics, the Newlywed Game, grand slams, the advantages of being flexible, disrespecting nominal variables, formally apologizing to linguists, Winnie the Pooh, VH1's Pop-Up Video, the w...
Mar 04, 2025•47 min•Season 6Ep. 16
In this week’s episode Greg and Patrick talk about loglinear models as a clever method to deconstruct the potential dependencies among two or more categorical variables. Along the way, they also discuss Children of the Corn, Mr. Magoo glasses, tighty whities, Fogo de Chão, blinded by hand soap, logarithms as drug mules, Euler Euler Euler, conspiracy boards and red yarn, M&M colors, depth perception problems, and apologies to Mrs. Johnson Stay in contact with Quantitude! Web page: quantitudep...
Feb 18, 2025•40 min•Season 6Ep. 15
In this week's episode Greg and Patrick invoke the very personal interpretation of modern art as a framework for thinking about the exceedingly cool topic of rotation in exploratory factor analysis. Along the way they also discuss Venice Beach, haystacks, drug fronts, being insufferable, ignoramuses, .22's and stop signs, weak pivots, honking factors, pooping out matrices, the Gulf of America, twitchy eyeballs, big fat zeros, obliquity, and Extortomax. Stay in contact with Quantitude! Web page: ...
Feb 04, 2025•43 min•Season 6Ep. 14
In this week's episode Greg and Patrick talk about group coding approaches, like dummy variables and effect code variables, for helping to analyze group differences within the larger general linear model. Along they way they also discuss hacking up a lung, made for audio faces, walking pneumonia, putting Vicks VapoRub on your feet, cards in your spokes, confusing rental cars, crash test dummies, what is your quest, 25-cent Nyquil night, Bonferroni glasses, the Romans, and Nyquil haze. Stay in co...
Jan 21, 2025•46 min•Season 6Ep. 13
In this week's episode Patrick and Greg explore the fascinating world of suppressor variables which have the nearly magical, yet fully understandable, distinction of being unrelated to the dependent variable yet serving to enhance the predictive utility of other variables in the model. Along the way they also discuss getting the giggles, giving away our secrets, Sigmund Freud, repressed variance, Greg's defense mechanisms, Keyser Soze, the Cookie Monster, squirrel proof bird feeders, World War I...
Jan 07, 2025•38 min•Season 6Ep. 12
This week we just want to wish everyone a wonderful holiday season, and we look forward to sharing more quant fun in the new year. Please take care everyone! Stay in contact with Quantitude! Web page: quantitudepod.org TwitterX: @quantitudepod YouTube: @quantitudepod Merch: redbubble.com...
Dec 24, 2024•8 min•Season 6Ep. 11
In today’s episode, Greg and Patrick talk about instrumental variables: what they are, how they help to make causal claims, and the many assumptions and challenges associated with them. Along the way they also mention: Festival of Side Dishes, pilot turkeys, gutsy bagpipes, charter schools, drama kids, RCT wieners, Space Force, licking a rainbow, Duranimals, draft lotteries, shoelace color, buttress, mother-in-lawing, and kazoo duets. Stay in contact with Quantitude! Web page: quantitudepod.org ...
Dec 17, 2024•45 min•Season 6Ep. 10
This week Patrick and Greg talk about one of Patrick's favorite papers, which is a masterpiece not only in terms of its quantitative contribution in understanding the differential role of factor scores, but also as a model of clear and concise technical communication. Along the way they also mention Sandals and Motel 6, hotel hangers and glasses, hitchhikers under the bed, icebreakers with Roger, David Mamet films, Patrick’s conversations with himself, Rondo, title colons, carving elephants, cur...
Dec 03, 2024•40 min•Season 6Ep. 9
In this week's episode, Patrick and Greg discuss the benefits and limitations of generalized estimating equations as an approach to dealing with data that violate the assumption of independence. Along the way they also mention: goat rodeos, haunted houses, jump scares, liberos, Haikyu!!, Whoa Ace!, dadenfreude, Otto, cutting the baguette, this just in, American Idiot, bing bong bing bong, my dad drinks Pepsi, and fine print. Stay in contact with Quantitude! Web page: quantitudepod.org TwitterX: ...
Nov 19, 2024•43 min•Season 6Ep. 8
In this week's episode Greg and Patrick talk about the advantages of recent structural after measurement work, allowing us to break apart traditional structural equation models to analyze the measurement and structural portions separately. Along the way they also discuss the baseball playoffs, fire pit face plants, the gluten cabinet, pumpkin inadequacy, a soupçon of ginger, free range muffins, fancy pants souffles, drunken whac-a-mole, flexing lats, and blue on black. Stay in contact with Quant...
Nov 05, 2024•42 min•Season 6Ep. 7
In this week's episode Greg tries to ambush Patrick by bringing back the popular feature Pop Quiz, this time with a statistical acronym theme, only to pretty much get crushed by Patrick in the end. Along they way they also discuss: Wow That's Fantastic, QR codes and octogenarians, Questionable Rectum, catharsis, grassy knolls, petards, Sean ringtones, pity minutes, apologies to Roy Levy, bad clock management, asteroid Roombas, pitching beach balls, statistical sock puppets, and the DIC talk. Sta...
Oct 22, 2024•41 min•Season 6Ep. 6
In this week's episode Patrick and Greg discuss Cattell's data box and try to better understand what it is, what it is not, and how we might make use of this in practice. Along the way they also discuss illegal knives, baseball cards, the Cubs and the Mariners, bicentennial quarters, how to load a dishwasher, horrible people, anal retentive friends, Flat Stanley, Dungeons & Dragons, pricing yourself out of business, needing 20 friends, being super pedantic, The Full Monty, stereograms, and m...
Oct 15, 2024•40 min•Season 6Ep. 5
In this week's episode, Patrick and Greg talk about person-centered methods versus variable-centered methods with the punch line being that the historically contentious distinction between these two is unnecessary, unhelpful, and even counter-productive. Along the way they also mention lost luggage, Sabena Air t-shirts, the Inquisition, honey badger Americans, Fredrik Backman, punch lines, a frayed knot, the Keanu Reeves of statistics, new bosses and old bosses, non sequiturs, fffsssshhhhh, ergo...
Oct 08, 2024•46 min•Season 6Ep. 4
In this week's episode Greg and Patrick explore the surprisingly tricky topic of multiple choice items: how to write them, how not to write them, and giving a well written test the respect it deserves. Along the way they also discuss recognizing emotions, laying down 50 feet of rubber, glass animals, rewriting your kid's test, self-righteousness, Dora the Explorer, the Magna Carta, accidentally becoming a better teacher, dumpster diving, a special place in hell, Trivial Pursuit as blood sport, w...
Sep 24, 2024•39 min•Season 6Ep. 3
In this week's episode Patrick and Greg talk about different ways of assessing inter-rater agreement and reliability among two or more raters and the importance of doing so. Along the way they also discuss the summer Olympics, underdogs, monologue face-offs, Quincy Wilson, Boomers, the Soviet judge, biopsy subjectivity, the secret to college admissions reliability, skipping conference dinners, ripping a dive, Patrick's silver medal, the trifactor model, the Good Cop parent, temper tantrums, and ...
Sep 17, 2024•44 min•Season 6Ep. 2
In this week's episode, the first of Season 6, Greg and Patrick visit with Dr. Ethan McCormick, an Assistant Professor of Educational Statistics and Data Science in the School of Education at the University of Delaware. After catching up on Ethan's international adventures they discuss his recent work on using growth factors as predictors of distal outcomes and how pretty much everything he expected to find came out exactly the opposite. Along the way they also discuss chain sawing family memori...
Sep 10, 2024•50 min•Season 6Ep. 1
In this week’s episode, our 150th and the last of season 5, Greg and Patrick hear from five people at different stages of their academic journey, who share some of their concerns about a career in academia. Along the way we also mention: deathscrolling, Patrick’s fuzzy blanket, slow motion ballerina, Twix, academia infomercial, Twitter admins, micromanaging, pilot training, young Turks at the gate, stupid shit like this, chalk holders, administrative tennis, Nietzsche, Eeyore, Kaitlin Clark assi...
May 21, 2024•52 min•Season 5Ep. 25
In this week's episode Patrick and Greg somehow manage to tie together pretending to be sick with game shows with zombies with conspiracy boards to explore the remarkable inter-relations among probability distributions, starting with the Bernoulli and biting their way through the binomial, z, t, chi-square, F, and beyond. Along the way they also discuss having a 122 degree temperature, playing with mercury, daytime TV, Paul Lynde, Vanna White, horses and plows, breeding like cats, the long con, ...
May 07, 2024•47 min•Season 5Ep. 24
In this week's episode Greg and Patrick talk about both structural equation modeling and directed acyclic graphs, or DAGs, where they are similar and where they are different, and try to provide a Rosetta Stone for translating back and forth between the two. Along the way they also discuss pop, garage sales, thinking about excessive thought, roly-polies, potato bugs, been to the cinema, sweet tea, smiley face sub-i, poop hat, the British Museum, fiberglass replicas, love languages, cave drawings...
Apr 30, 2024•49 min•Season 5Ep. 23
In this week's episode Patrick and Greg explore the incredibly cool topic of survival analysis, which is a set of techniques that allows for powerful tests of predictors of the amount of time to experiencing an event; yet these models are not often used in many areas of study. Along the way they also discuss the date of your death, running with scissors, Patrick's Audi A8, because she's dead, say my name, the good guys, things that annoy me, you tell me, using your brain, sofa forts, back dating...
Apr 23, 2024•47 min•Season 5Ep. 22
In this week's episode, Greg and Patrick talk about the challenges of combining confirmatory factor analysis and multilevel data, and the underappreciated but absolutely critical role that theory plays in choosing the proper model for your constructs. Along the way they also discuss learning in a second language, torn meniscuseseses, concert C trumpets, nosy neighbors, forts of equations, artillery commanders, saluting cadets, the huffing closet, Hungry Hungry Hippos, Rock'em Sock'em Robots, lac...
Apr 09, 2024•47 min•Season 5Ep. 21
In this week's episode Greg and Patrick discuss the assessment of global vs. local model fit and they argue that although global measures of fit can be useful, carefully assessing local fit may be of much greater importance in practice. Along the way the also discuss cheap beach house rentals, misplaced sand dunes, Mrs. Lincoln, the child catcher, hushpuppies, cockroach feces, academia as community theater, spikes and smoodges, opening paragraphs, dark and stormy nights, sharp rusty knives, drea...
Apr 02, 2024•46 min•Season 5Ep. 20
In this week's episode Patrick and Greg provide an introduction to the Item Response Theory model: what it is, how it relates to traditional factor analysis, and how this modem approach improves upon some of the limitations of classical test theory. Along the way they also mention weinerness, memorizing Latin for punishment, eggszampke, in ether words, ITR, switching a and b, I’m not defensive - you are, why biostatisticians hate us (page 3 subsection 8), binary babble, EAPs and MAPs, computer a...
Mar 19, 2024•49 min•Season 5Ep. 19
In this week’s episode, Patrick and Greg play with some of the basics of probability in the context of some classic, fun, and often counterintuitive examples. Along the way they also discuss arguments with relatives, a feel for the roulette wheel, Xeroxing your butt, “The coin has spoken.”, Quantitude BooqQlub, the Bellagio Fountains, Clooney and Pitt look-alikes, the Flippier, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, Monty Hall, Ferraris and goats, the birthday problem, how to carve an elephant, and pick-...
Mar 12, 2024•44 min•Season 5Ep. 18
In this week's episode Greg and Patrick are honored to visit with Yi Feng, a quantitative methodologist at UCLA, as she helps them understand classification and regression tree analysis. She describes the various ways in which these models can be used, and how these can serve to inform both prediction and explanation. Along the way they also discuss looking pensive, drunken 3-way interactions, Stephen Hawking, parlor tricks, Cartman, validation, dragon boats, anxiety, spam filters, hair loss, au...
Feb 27, 2024•51 min•Season 5Ep. 17
