On that consensus …

A study from the University of Illinois supporting the view that there is scientific consensus with respect to global warming has recently fallen under the critical eye of this paper’s redoubtable Mr. Gitz.

Mr. Gitz summarily dismisses the study on grounds that the sample size is too small, though in fact fully 3,146 earth scientists, a response of 31 percent of those petitioned, volunteered to participate, and of these some 90 percent acknowledged a belief in a warming planet. Given this percentage and the sample size along with some very simple math one gets in an introductory statistics class, we can infer from the study with 95 percent confidence that 89 percent to 91 percent of the population of earth scientists believe in global warming. No problem with sample size here.

Undoubtedly Mr. Gitz will reply that what really riled his statistical sensibilities was the study’s finding that 96 percent (76 of 79) of those described as publishing climate scientists believed in global warming. Admittedly, a sample of 79 is small, but even in this case, our 95 percent confidence interval for the population mean ranges only from 92 percent to 100 percent.

The study may have its problems, but I believe sample size is not one of them, which leaves one wondering whether or not Mr. Gitz even read the original study in the first place, but instead relied on a source he failed to fact-check.

The headline for Mr. Gitz’s column was “Fake factoids, false narratives.” Well, which is it, Mr. Gitz? Are you for ’em or against ’em? CLEVE MAY Little Rock