What is Survivor Bias?

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What is Survivor Bias?

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Anonymous 0 Comments

This bias typically happens when something is selected in some way and you only look at one group of the two. Practical examples:

20% of planes return from a fight with the enemy -> you only look at those 20% instead thinking about the 80% who did not make it back (the classical example used with the red dots for bullet damage and asking what to improve)

27% of women work in STEM -> you only ask the ones who already work in STEM but not your accountant why she does not

Another good one is from Wikipedia: 6/10 students on an elite class are from one school. You think the school is really good, but it could just be way larger than the schools where the other students are from.

You will see this happening everywhere all the time once you understand the bias.

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