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Old 11-05-2008, 09:59 PM
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Becky Becky is offline
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Join Date: 30 Jul 2002
Location: Mississippi
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I hate to burst your IQ ideas but there's no statistically significant difference in an IQ of 101.5 and an IQ of 93.3. The average IQ is 100 and anything between 90-109 is considered Average. In order for a difference to be significant, it has to be a standard deviation which is 15 points. If the top state had an IQ of 108 and the bottom had an IQ of 93, the difference would matter, but both scores would still be considered average. As it is, the difference in the average scores for the states are more likely a reflection of socioeconomic status. Children who live in rural areas will do more poorly on an IQ test than those who live in more populated areas. I can't discuss in detail because of test security, but there are photographic items in some of the major IQ tests that are biased against rural children because those children not likely to have ever seen these things. That doesn't make them stupid. It makes them disadvantaged.

Quote:
Obama states average IQ: 98.5
McCain states average IQ: 97.9
That difference could not be any more meaningless.

And for the record, I have a Master's degree in psychological testing and have given at least a thousand IQ tests in my career. I assure you I know what I'm talking about on this subject because I know the tests and the way they are normed and I know the bias I see every day in testing.
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Last edited by Becky; 11-05-2008 at 10:02 PM..
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