Beyond Basic Statistics: Tips, Tricks, and Techniques Every Data Analyst Should Know

8THE BATTLE OF THE MOVIE MONSTERS, ROUND TWO: RAMPING UP HYPOTHESIS TESTS WITH NONPARAMETRIC STATISTICS

In the 1962 classic science fiction movie, King Kong vs. Godzilla, two of the world’s most famous movie monsters fight an epic battle. The prize? Bragging rights and the opportunity to terrorize the poor citizens of the small island of Japan. The battle lasts only a few minutes, but the giant ape and the fire-breathing lizard do plenty of damage in that time, toppling buildings and causing earthquakes and mudslides. In the end, locked in one final death grip, the two creatures roll off a cliff and into the sea. Kong is spotted swimming toward his home on Skull Island. Godzilla isn’t seen again.

Was Kong running away from the nuclear lizard? Or did Godzilla sink to the bottom of the ocean in defeat? Who won the battle, anyway?

The producers leave room for debate over these questions, and it’s a debate that rages on. Over fifty years after the movie’s release, arguments over the outcome of the epic battle can be found in blogs and forums across the Internet. Godzilla fans insist the ape’s strength was no match for the lizard’s atomic breath and impenetrable scales. Kong fans insist the ape outwitted the lizard, leaving him to die at the bottom of the ocean. All of the fans are certain of their position. And yet, nothing has ever been proven.

In The Art of Data Analysis: How to Answer Almost Any Question Using Basic Statistics, Godzilla and King Kong engage in a very different ...