Here in NZ all schools are classified into 10 deciles and we often hear
talk of a "decile 3" or a "decile 10" school. I have never heard of
anyone being pulled up over this usage.
Murray Jorgensen
Allan Reese (Cefas) wrote:
> I was pulled up recently for using the phrase "top quartile" to define a
> quarter of a sample. Statistical dictionaries appear to support my
> critic, defining the quartile as the point estimate of the percentile.
> However, I feel it's a long-established extension of meaning to refer to
> the parts of the sample or population. For example, this from the
> Guardian 2003:
>
> "... They quote Alison Wolf, of the London School of Economics, to show
> that when only 10% of the population have degrees, someone in the top
> 25% of the ability range will still have plenty of job opportunities and
> it is a rational decision not to bother with university. But once more
> than 50% of the population holds a higher education qualification, the
> same employer that was targeting the top quartile of the population in
> terms of ability will now make the assumption that they require a
> graduate."
>
> Do you agree with my usage, or think it sloppy and wrong? If the
> latter, what word does describe the subset? The "top quarter" seems to
> me vague and ambiguous.
>
>
>
> Comments to me, and I'll summarize later.
>
> Allan
>
>
>
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--
Dr Murray Jorgensen http://www.stats.waikato.ac.nz/Staff/maj.html
Department of Statistics, University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand
Email: [log in to unmask] Fax 7 838 4155
Phone +64 7 838 4773 wk Home +64 7 825 0441 Mobile 021 1395 862
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