Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • This Month
  • Published:

Points of significance

Errors in predictor variables

It is the mark of an educated mind to rest satisfied with the degree of precision that the nature of the subject admits and not to seek exactness where only an approximation is possible. Aristotle

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Noise in the predictor variable generally reduces the magnitude of the slope estimate in simple linear regression.
Fig. 2: Slope attenuation bias correction using replicates of W.

References

  1. Altman, N. & Krzywinski, M. Nat. Methods 12, 999–1000 (2015).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Das, K., Krzywinski, M. & Altman, N. Nat. Methods 16, 451–452 (2019).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Lever, J., Krzywinski, M. & Altman, N. Nat. Methods 13, 541–542 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Greco, L., Luta, G., Krzywinski, M. & Altman, N. Nat. Methods 16, 275–276 (2019).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Sikaris, K. J. Diabetes Sci. Technol. 3, 429–438 (2009).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  6. Keogh, R. H. et al. Stat. Med. 39, 2197–2231 (2020).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge David Ruppert (Cornell University) for contributions to the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Martin Krzywinski.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Altman, N., Krzywinski, M. Errors in predictor variables. Nat Methods 21, 4–6 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-023-02119-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41592-023-02119-z

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing