The thing that wasn’t replicated was their attempt at a predictive test of the distribution (based on a particular explanation they thought applied), not the existence of the distribution itself, which is something that was observed in grade patterns in CS compared to other subjects (though I don’t know how rigorously established it is).
Well, their original paper claimed that (eg) math grades are typically a bell curve, whereas CS grades are typically bimodal (with examples from one university). But again, I’m not sure if this is something that’s been rigorously demonstrated.
Good to know. I thought it had a bit of a questionable odor to it, but I wasn’t able to find any replications in the brief time I spent looking into it.
Camel seems to fail replication: http://www.gwern.net/Notes#the-camel-has-two-humps
The thing that wasn’t replicated was their attempt at a predictive test of the distribution (based on a particular explanation they thought applied), not the existence of the distribution itself, which is something that was observed in grade patterns in CS compared to other subjects (though I don’t know how rigorously established it is).
Isn’t the predictive part the interesting thing? I wasn’t aware that bimodal grade distributions were unique to CS.
Well, their original paper claimed that (eg) math grades are typically a bell curve, whereas CS grades are typically bimodal (with examples from one university). But again, I’m not sure if this is something that’s been rigorously demonstrated.
Good to know. I thought it had a bit of a questionable odor to it, but I wasn’t able to find any replications in the brief time I spent looking into it.