• Lauchs@lemmy.world
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    21 days ago

    The lowest are likely to have serious issues and not be particularly helpful (how well the paperboy, special needs cashier etc is not particularly representative or useful.)

    We also have measures that capture most of what you’re looking for there in the poverty rate.

    What might be helpful is stuff like the interquartile ranges (think medians but more of them) or specific medians e.g., what’s the median for the bottom twenty, bottom forty etc.

    Measures at the extremes are rarely very helpful except for arguing in ignorance or bad faith.