ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Credence (statistics)

Okay kiddo, do you know what a "credence" means? It's like when you believe something is true even though you don't have any proof or evidence.

In statistics, credence is when people believe a certain thing is true but there isn't any scientific evidence to support it yet. It's a bit like when you think your favorite superhero can fly, even though you've never seen them do it in real life.

But it's important to remember that credence is not proof! It's just a belief or assumption that people have. In statistics, it's important to test these assumptions and see if they hold up under careful analysis.

For example, if people believe that eating chocolate makes you smarter, that's a credence. But scientists can do studies to test that theory and see if it's really true or not. They might find that there's no real evidence to support the idea and that it's just a myth.

So in summary, credence is when people believe something is true without scientific evidence to support it. In statistics, it's important to carefully examine these beliefs and test them to see if they are really true.