Resource Library

The individual source of the statistics may easily be the weakest link. Harold Cox tells a story of his life as a young man in India. He quoted some statistics to a Judge, an Englishman, and a very good fellow. His friend said, Cox, when you are a bit older, you will not quote Indian statistics with that assurance. The Government are very keen on amassing statistics ... they collect them, add them, raise them to the nth power, take the cube root and prepare wonderful diagrams. But what you must never forget is that every one of these figures comes in the first place from the `chowty dar` [village watchman], who just puts down what he damn pleases." Quoted from "Some Economic Factors in Modern Life" (King and Son, 1929; p. 258) by Sir Josiah Charles Stamp (1880 - 1941), British economist, statistician, director of the Bank of England and president of the Royal Statistical Society.

This textbook for medical statistics covers many topics such as: Data display and summary; Mean and standard deviation; Populations and samples; Statements of probability and confidence intervals; Differences between means: type I and type II errors and power; Differences between percentages and paired alternatives; The t tests; The chi-squared tests; Exact probabilty test; Rank score tests; Correlation and regression; Survival analysis; Study design and choosing a statistical test.

... statistics - whatever their mathematical sophistication and elegance - cannot make bad variables into good ones. Quoted from "Analysis of Nominal Data" by H.T. Reynolds (Sage, 1984) p. 8

The plural of anecdote is not data. Attributed to American economist Roger E. Brinner in the on-line list of quotes at www.keypress.com/fathom/fathom1/quotes.html

The great tragedy of Science - the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact. A quote of English biologist Thomas H. Huxley (1825 - 1895) from his Presidential address in 1870 to the British Association for the Advancement of Science. Published in "Biogenesis and Abiogenesis," vol. 8, Collected Essays (1894).

It is a good morning exercise for a research scientist to discard a pet hypothesis every day before breakfast. It keeps him young. A quote of Austrian animal behaviorist Konrad Lorenz (1903 - 1989) in "On Aggression", (English translation: 1966, Harvest books) p. 12. Quote also found in "Statistically Speaking - a Dictionary of Quotations" compiled by Carl Gaither and Alma Cavazos-Gaither p. 119.

I don't see the logic of rejecting data just because they seem incredible. A quote of British Astronomer Sir Fred Hoyle (1915 - 2001) found in "Statistically Speaking - A Dictionary of Quotations" compiled by Carl Gaither and Alma Cavazos-Gaither (IOP publishing, 1996) p. 150.

The purpose of models is not to fit the data but to sharpen the questions. A quote of applied probabilist Samuel Karlin (1924 - 2007) from his Fisher memorial lecture April, 1983. The quote is found in "Statistically Speaking: a Dictionary of Quotations" compiled by Carl Gaither and Alma Cavazos-Gaither.

Forecasting is very difficult, especially about the future. A quote of business economist Edgar R. Fiedler (1929 - 2003) found in "Across the Board", the magazine of The Conference Board, Inc. (June, 1977). The quote also appears in "Statistically Speaking: A dictionary of quotations" compiled by Carl Gaither and Alma Cavazos-Gaither.

A cartoon that can be used in teaching about pie charts. Cartoon by John Landers (www.landers.co.uk) based on an idea from Dennis Pearl (The Ohio State University). Free to use in the classroom and on course web sites.