Mooney unspun

Falkenblog looks at Chris Mooney's recent output and concludes that he doesn't understand standard errors:

[Mooney] concludes that 'a little knowledge is a dangerous thing'. Yes, Mr. tendentious English major without an understanding of standard errors, it is.

Comments

[kim]

Heh, I saw that earlier linked from the Haunt. Given Ryan Maue's graph of Accumulated Cyclone Energy, at a 30 year low, I've asked Chris Mooney when he is going to write 'Calm World'.
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[stopcpdotcom]

Technocratic kleptocracy at the University of East Anglia

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[Maurizio Morabito]

Why would anybody listen to Chris Mooney? He's had his day in the sun, and the result ain't pretty. Next!

[Drcrinum]

I scanned the actual paper and found:

"As respondents’ science literacy scores increased, their concern with climate change decreased (r = -0.05, p = 0.05)."

I wonder ... does the conclusion follow that climate scientists have lower science literacy?

Not that I agree with the overall hypotheses examined in the paper, but I think the underlying problem the AGW proponents face is that the concept of "global warming" did not make the expected transition to "climate change" in the public's eye. The assessment looked at the perceived "risk of climate change" rather than the perceived "risk of global warming". I believe the AGWers muddied the water too much when they changed the wording in their sacred prayer to the annointed.