Chance News 74
Quotations
"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 you must never forget that every one of these figures comes in the first instance from the village watchman, who just puts down what he damn pleases."
As quoted by Howard Wainer, in Picturing the Uncertain World Princeton University Press, 2009, p. 23. The above observations is by no means dated, as shown bey the following quote from p. 24.
"The term curbstoning describes a practice that is widespread enough to warrant inclusion in the glossary of The 2000 Census: Interim Assessment, which defines it as 'The practice by which a census enumerator fabricates a questionnaire for a residence without actually visiting it.'"
Submitted by Paul Alper
"So when I hear scientists say, 'The data speak for themselves,' I cringe. Data never speak. And data generally and most often are politically and socially inflected."
As quoted in Q. and A.: Taking On Climate Skepticism as a Field of Study, Green Blog, New York Times, 9 April 2011
Submitted by Bill Peterson