Observational Studies

  • by Lawrence Mark Lesser
    Who had contact? Who gave the money?
    How did they pick who was studied?
    What was the setting? What was asked?
    How else did the groups contrast?
    What was the size of the effects –
    Did it matter in a practical sense?

  • In comparing the deaths of one hospital with those of another, any statistics are justly considered absolutely valueless which do not give the ages, the sexes and the diseases of all the cases.

    Florence Nightingale (1820 - 1910)

  • The same set of statistics can produce opposite conclusions at different levels of aggregation.

    Thomas Sowell (1930 - )

  • A study in the Washington Post says that women have better verbal skills than men. I just want to say to the authors of that study: 'Duh.'

    Conan O'Brien (1963 - )

  • It is a common error to infer that things which are consecutive in the order of time have necessarily the relation of cause and effect.

    Jacob Bigelow (1787 - 1879)

  • I am not accustomed to saying anything with certainty after only one or two observations.

    Andreas Vesalius (1514 - 1564)

  • It is now proved beyond doubt that smoking is one of the leading causes of statistics.

    Fletcher Knebel (1911 - 1993)

  • The plural of anecdote is not data.

    Roger Brinner (1947 - )

  • On his standard of proof, natural science would never progress, for without the making of theories I am convinced there would be no observation.

    Charles Darwin (1809 - 1882)

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