Rain comments on Aspergers Poll Results: LW is nerdier than the Math Olympiad? - Less Wrong

14 [deleted] 13 May 2010 02:24PM

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Comment author: Rain 13 May 2010 04:08:29PM *  18 points [-]

Anecdote showing how such questions can be highly misleading:

I know someone who has bipolar disorder. He said that online questionnaires or simple diagnostic statements like the one quoted above are often misinterpreted, that it's the severity that matters most, and many people are not able to judge that properly.

He explained that many people who answer a bipolar diagnostics question like, "Do you often feel happy and then sad a short time later?" might think to themselves, "Hmm, just yesterday I was fine and then I got kind of down..." and so would answer yes to the binary question. However, for someone with true bipolar, he gave the example that, "Last week I worked 20 hours every day and founded 2 nonprofit organizations. This week I haven't been outside at all and I tried to kill myself. Again."

This sort of analysis should be done by someone with experience; the gap between 'normal' and 'severe' may be hard to fathom.

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 13 May 2010 05:13:04PM 5 points [-]

Another factor is that people who are willing to answer online questionnaires are almost certainly not randomly distributed.

Comment author: NancyLebovitz 14 May 2010 08:14:20AM 3 points [-]

Speaking of problems with multiple choice tests:

I suspect that IQ tests have some non-obvious biases: they select for mild ADD-- a series of little puzzles which take so little time that (if you like that sort of puzzle), you don't have time to get distracted.

They don't address the ability to take on large projects or to find new questions.

They select against people who feel a need to only think about things which are directly connected to their goals.