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Subject: Re: on ceiling effects and the need for time adjustments

Author: Joseph Ciarrochi

Date: 22:02:00 01/18/06

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>
>Hi Joseph,
>
>I don't think it would provide any meaningful data to be honest. I'd have
>thought that the main purpose of engine v engine testing was to determine which
>performs better given equal conditions.
>Just my opinion,
>
>Regards, Graham.

Yes, I would not want to replace engine versus engine tournments. I too love to
see these. And to be honest, i don't think ceiling or floor effects are going to
make a huge practical difference (though this is an empirical question)

I'll use an example from another domain to make my suggestion. Let's say you are
evaluating the items on an IQ test. You can do an item  analysis to establish
item sensitivity. Some items will discriminate very well between people above
and below average in IQ, but will not discriminate well between two people high
in IQ. Other items will discriminate between people with a 120 iq verus those
with a 140 iq, but will not discriminate between below and above average IQ
people.

Now, if I have limited time, and I know i am trying to discriminate between two
high IQ people, then I will use the best subset of items for this purpose.


Returning to the world of chess, let's say you make minor modifications to your
engine and you want to determine if it is statistically better. I would say
you've got to find the engines that will be most sensitive to these differences.
So you don't want your oponents to be too strong or too weak. Otherwise, maybe
differences will be masked (and i say maybe, because we can't say their is a
ceiling or floor without analyzing the data. I can do this with what is posted
on the cegt....but i am suppose to be working on my real job now :( )

Anyway, I think it all depends on your purpose.


best
Joseph





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