To the happy newlyweds - my sister-in-law Kim and Jordan on the eve of their wedding. May your adventures be many, and may you not worry so much about statistical significance.
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Before I got married, I spent a
lot of time agonizing - how could I know with absolute certainty that I was
making the right choice? How, based on 3
years of data, could I definitively make a decision which would impact the next
half-century (or longer!) of my life?
In statistics, the larger your
sample size, the more confidence you can have that a pattern is emerging in
your data. When you have a statistically
significant sample size, you can say with greater conviction that the trends
you've observed actually support a particular hypothesis.
But in matters of love, how do
you quantify data? How do you know when
you've got a large enough sample? What
even counts as a measurable data point - is it number of kisses and "I
love yous"? Number of breakfasts in
bed times the average duration of snuggle time?
Something else entirely?
How could I ever support
my own marriage hypothesis?
