"Thats not how statistics work?" lol. I'm no stats expert, but selection bias usually refers to a situation where sampling is occurring in a study from a group/population/etc right? I think the word you might be looking for is "selective breeding?". From what I can tell, these studies evaluate ALL dog bites - nothing is being selectively sampled here.
Also, the ice cream argument doesn't make any sense in this context. There is a direct cause and effect happening here. If a dog bites someone, the dog causes the bite. You can't have dog bites without dogs. Are you saying the bites are actually due to cats or something? Sure, there are other factors such as upbringing that can affect these statistics, but that doesn't change the fact that they're statically more likely to be dangerous.
Of course the history of each dog should be considered regardless of breed, but it is reasonable to not adopt a pitbull because of these statistics.
P.S. I hope all the adorable animals from this post find loving homes :)
arctic_olive t1_j3n4ya6 wrote
Reply to comment by an_m_8ed in If you're looking for a dog, please consider one of our long-time residents by ktcat146
"Thats not how statistics work?" lol. I'm no stats expert, but selection bias usually refers to a situation where sampling is occurring in a study from a group/population/etc right? I think the word you might be looking for is "selective breeding?". From what I can tell, these studies evaluate ALL dog bites - nothing is being selectively sampled here.
Also, the ice cream argument doesn't make any sense in this context. There is a direct cause and effect happening here. If a dog bites someone, the dog causes the bite. You can't have dog bites without dogs. Are you saying the bites are actually due to cats or something? Sure, there are other factors such as upbringing that can affect these statistics, but that doesn't change the fact that they're statically more likely to be dangerous.
Of course the history of each dog should be considered regardless of breed, but it is reasonable to not adopt a pitbull because of these statistics.
P.S. I hope all the adorable animals from this post find loving homes :)