On Data (1920-1929)

"Science is frankly empirical in method and aim; it seeks to discover the laws of concrete being and becoming, and to formulate these in the simplest terms, which are either immediate data of experience or verifiably derived therefrom." (J Arthur Thomson, "The System of Animate Nature" Vol. 1, 1920)

"We are, therefore, in danger of being overwhelmed by our data and of being unable to deal with the simpler problems first and understand their connection. The continual heaping up of data is worse than useless if interpretation does not keep pace with it." (Joseph H Woodger, "Biological Principles: A Critical Study", 1920)

"A 'poor evaluation' of the probability of anything may reflect ignorance of relevant data which 'ought' to be known [...]" (Clarence I Lewis, "Mind and the World-Order: Outline of a Theory of Knowledge", 1924)

"There is no such thing as the probability of four aces in one hand, or the probability of anything else. Given all the relevant data which there are to be known, everything is either certainly true or certainly false." (Clarence I Lewis, "Mind and the World-Order: Outline of a Theory of Knowledge", 1924)

"No human mind is capable of grasping in its entirety the meaning of any considerable quantity of numerical data." (Sir Ronald A Fisher, "Statistical Methods for Research Workers", 1925)

"[...] no one knows better than the engineer the need of discrimination between the sure ground of known data and formal logic, on the one hand - as exemplified, say, by mathematical operations - and acts of judgment on the other; and no one has learned through wider experience than the engineer the need of applying his conclusions in the light of that component part which, of necessity, has been dependent on estimate and judgment." (William F Durand, Transactions of The American Society of Mechanical Engineers Vol.47, [address] 1925)

"Statistics may be regarded as (i) the study of populations, (ii) as the study of variation, and (iii) as the study of methods of the reduction of data." (Sir Ronald A Fisher, "Statistical Methods for Research Worker", 1925)

"The preliminary examination of most data is facilitated by the use of diagrams. Diagrams prove nothing, but bring outstanding features readily to the eye; they are therefore no substitutes for such critical tests as may be applied to the data, but are valuable in suggesting such tests, and in explaining the conclusions founded upon them." (Sir Ronald A Fisher, "Statistical Methods for Research Workers", 1925)

"There is no more pressing need in connection with the examination of experimental results than to test whether a given body of data is or is not in agreement with any suggested hypothesis." (Sir Ronald A Fisher, "Statistical Methods for Research Workers", 1925)

"The statistician’s job is to draw general conclusions from fragmentary data. Too often the data supplied to him for analysis are not only fragmentary but positively incoherent, so that he can do next to nothing with them. Even the most kindly statistician swears heartily under his breath whenever this happens". (Michael J Moroney, "Facts from Figures", 1927)

"When a man of science speaks of his 'data', he knows very well in practice what he means. Certain experiments have been conducted, and have yielded certain observed results, which have been recorded. But when we try to define a 'datum' theoretically, the task is not altogether easy. A datum, obviously, must be a fact known by perception. But it is very difficult to arrive at a fact in which there is no element of inference, and yet it would seem improper to call something a 'datum' if it involved inferences as well as observation. This constitutes a problem [...] (Bertrand Russell, "The Analysis of Matter", 1927)

"In the attempt to achieve a conceptual formulation of the confusingly immense body of observational data, the scientist makes use of a whole arsenal of concepts which he imbibed practically with his mother’s milk; and seldom if ever is he aware of the eternally problematic character of his concepts." (Albert Einstein, "Concepts of Space: The History of Theories of Space in Physics, 1928)