| Abstract: | Discusses the paradoxical discrepancy involved in the statistical calculation of the percentage of variation in batting performance that is attributable to skill differentials among major-league baseball players, which is discrepant with intuitions about the influence of skill in batting performance. This discrepancy is discussed in terms of habits of thought about variance explanation. It is argued that percentage variance explanation is a misleading index of the influence of systematic factors in cases where there are processes by which influences cumulate to produce meaningful outcomes. (6 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
