stat.OT

arXiv:2501.00997v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: These lecture notes are intended to cover some introductory topics in stochastic simulation for scientific computing courses offered by the IT department at Uppsala University, as taught by the author. Basic concepts in probability theory are provided in the Appendix A, which you may review before starting the upcoming sections or refer to as needed throughout the text.

arXiv:2412.16657v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: The purpose of this study is to provide a step-by-step demonstration of item recovery for the Multidimensional Graded Response Model (MGRM) in R. Within this scope, a sample simulation design was constructed where the test lengths were set to 20 and 40, the interdimensional correlations were varied as 0.3 and 0.7, and the sample size was fixed at 2000. Parameter estimates were derived from the generated datasets for the 3-dimensional GRM, and bias and Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) values were calculated and visualized. In line with the aim of the study, R codes for all these steps were presented along with detailed explanations, enabling researchers to replicate and adapt the procedures for their own analyses. This study is expected to contribute to the literature by serving as a practical guide for implementing item recovery in the MGRM. In addition, the methods presented, including data generation, parameter estimation, and result visualization, are anticipated to benefit researchers even if they are not directly engaged in item recovery.

arXiv:2412.16402v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Data visualization is a core part of statistical practice and is ubiquitous in many fields. Although there are numerous books on data visualization, instructors in statistics and data science may be unsure how to teach data visualization, because it is such a broad discipline. To give guidance on teaching data visualization from a statistical perspective, we make two contributions. First, we conduct a survey of data visualization courses at top colleges and universities in the United States, in order to understand the landscape of data visualization courses. We find that most courses are not taught by statistics and data science departments and do not focus on statistical topics, especially those related to inference. Instead, most courses focus on visual storytelling, aesthetic design, dashboard design, and other topics specialized for other disciplines. Second, we outline three teaching principles for incorporating statistical inference in data visualization courses, and provide several examples that demonstrate how instructors can follow these principles. The dataset from our survey allows others to explore the diversity of data visualization courses, and our teaching principles give guidance to instructors and departments who want to encourage statistical thinking via data visualization. In this way, statistics-related departments can provide a valuable perspective on data visualization that is unique to current course offerings.

arXiv:2412.10643v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: The debate between scientific realism and anti-realism remains at a stalemate, making reconciliation seem hopeless. Yet, important work remains: exploring a common ground, even if only to uncover deeper points of disagreement and, ideally, to benefit both sides of the debate. I propose such a common ground. Specifically, many anti-realists, such as instrumentalists, have yet to seriously engage with Sober's call to justify their preferred version of Ockham's razor through a positive account. Meanwhile, realists face a similar challenge: providing a non-circular explanation of how their version of Ockham's razor connects to truth. The common ground I propose addresses these challenges for both sides; the key is to leverage the idea that everyone values some truths and to draw on insights from scientific fields that study scientific inference -- namely, statistics and machine learning. This common ground also isolates a distinctively epistemic root of the irreconcilability in the realism debate.