In the midst of much lamented acts of police violence and equally lamentable reprisal comes a paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research titled An Empirical Analysis of Racial Differences in Police Use of Force. Among the media and related punditry are some claiming this study as ‘proof’ of the absence of racism in policing.
Yet the paper itself shows why that conclusion may be erroneous, starting with a frank notice on page one that it’s a working paper that hasn’t been peer reviewed. Other caveats start on page 7. (Page 7 of the PDF actually displays the number 5 on it’s bottom.) Caveats include problems with their source data and a concern that their methodology is inadequate. Snopes.com catalogs many other problems noted by critics and others.
I know what my gut's telling me about the veracity of the NERB paper. If this were an opinion piece I'd share that opinion. A New York Time story on the paper opens with the unequivocal “a new study confirms”. If the Times actually believes that then they need to either read more carefully or acquire a better understanding of how scientific research works. If they understand how science works, they're editorializing. in which case their whole article should on the opinion section, not posted as news.
