The Real ‘Stuff White People Like’
blog.okcupid.com
The Real ‘Stuff White People Like’
1–10 of 84 posts
Re: The Real ‘Stuff White People Like’
#2Those results are highly odd, but I don't think okcupid is mainstream enough to really glean any insight into racial psychology (if such a thing exists) from their data. Furthermore, they don't provide enough info on their analysis method, but I would be interested in seeing the results of a null-run: randomly assigning profiles to groups (rather than by race) and seeing what "statistically distinct" phrases arise (if the analysis is valid no phrases should arise).
It would also be interesting to see them do the same analysis for other features such as height, income, photo attractiveness, etc.
Similar analysis for craigslist personals by city: http://blog.kiwitobes.com/?p=42
Re: The Real ‘Stuff White People Like’
#3Interesting read, a couple things come to mind though: how does "the people who have ok cupid profiles" vary against "the general population". Several things I suspect are skewed because of the population bias.
Also, they say most of their users are urban, but I'm curious if people aren't prone to list themselves as the nearest big city rather than where they really live. For instance, I suspect everyone within 45 minutes of Des Moines is listing themselves as living there, rather than the tiny farm town / suburb they really live in.
Re: The Real ‘Stuff White People Like’
#4[deleted]
Re: The Real ‘Stuff White People Like’
#5Interesting read, a couple things come to mind though: how does "the people who have ok cupid profiles" vary against "the general population". Several things I suspect are skewed because of the population bias. Also, they say most of their users are urban, but I'm curious if people aren't prone to list themselves as the nearest big city rather than where they really live. For instance, I suspect everyone within 45 mi…
Generally, OKC's demographics are perceived as being college age, liberal, middle class, and alt friendly.
I'm not sure they've ever directly posted demographic data, but that's their perceived demographic, at least.
Re: The Real ‘Stuff White People Like’
#6Interesting read, a couple things come to mind though: how does "the people who have ok cupid profiles" vary against "the general population". Several things I suspect are skewed because of the population bias. Also, they say most of their users are urban, but I'm curious if people aren't prone to list themselves as the nearest big city rather than where they really live. For instance, I suspect everyone within 45 mi…
Agreed. The white male info made me think "divorced 30-45 yo professional type" quite distinctly. (I'm a young white guy). Also, I bet this thread will get seriously contentious if not for the fact that the HN audience was depicted quite well there (based on my imaginary demographic profile of Hacker News).
Re: The Real ‘Stuff White People Like’
#7Those results are highly odd, but I don't think okcupid is mainstream enough to really glean any insight into racial psychology (if such a thing exists) from their data. Furthermore, they don't provide enough info on their analysis method, but I would be interested in seeing the results of a null-run: randomly assigning profiles to groups (rather than by race) and seeing what "statistically distinct" phrases arise (i…
They do have an enormous sample size. Much, much larger than any rigorous scientific studies based on getting undergrads to fill out surveys.
They've done similar analyses for things like self-reported heights, and photos:
http://blog.okcupid.com/index.php/the-biggest-lies-in-online...
Re: The Real ‘Stuff White People Like’
#8That last stat about reading level bothers me. "Ok, before anyone gets offended about reading level vs race, let's show you a stat that confirms another stereotype: religious people are stupid! And atheists are smartest of all! Scientifically proven with a reading test based on the lengths of words, and metrics I just made up. And don't worry that almost half of the data points belie my analysis, ha ha ha, it confirms your prejudices, so it's ok!"
Re: The Real ‘Stuff White People Like’
#9Eh their analysis method is not too hot. From the comments section:
"The phrases included in the black boxes are the top 50 phrases most statistically correlated to that group. We calculated this as follows:
1. We calculated the frequency of every 1, 2, and 3 word phrase for the whole population. 2. We calculated those same frequencies within each race/gender pair. 3. For each phrase, we divided #2 by #1. 4. This is the propensity of a given group to use a given phrase. 5. The list you see is the phrases with the 50 highest ratios of #2/#1."
So even if a group uses a phrase 1.001x more than the population average, it might still be listed, if there are no actual phrase-usage differences (i.e., all phrase ratios will be small, and the top 50 will be arbitrary).
Re: The Real ‘Stuff White People Like’
#10I found this, like most of the other blog posts by the OK Cupid team, pretty genius. I am glad the people who sit on top of this goldmine of social information have a good sense of humor.
It would be cool to see a statistician guest post. The OK Cupid people are great at coming up with ideas for analysis, but I'd love to see some solid stats behind some of their analyses.