On Data (1930-1939)

"Science works by the slow method of the classification of data, arranging the detail patiently in a periodic system into groups of facts, in series like the strata of the rocks. For each series there must be a vocabulary of special words which do not always make good sense when used in another series. But the laws of periodicity seem to hold throughout, among the elements and in every sphere of thought, and we must learn to co-ordinate the whole through our new conception of the reign of relativity." (William H Pallister, "Poems of Science", 1931)

"However, perhaps the main point is that you are under no obligation to analyse variance into its parts if it does not come apart easily, and its unwillingness to do so naturally indicates that one’s line of approach is not very fruitful." (Sir Ronald A Fisher, [Letter to Lancelot Hogben] 1933)

"The analysis of variance is not a mathematical theorem, but rather a convenient method of arranging the arithmetic." (Sir Ronald A Fisher, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Vol. 1, 1934)

"Mathematics alone make us feel the limits of our intelligence. For we can always suppose in the case of an experiment that it is inexplicable because we don’t happen to have all the data. In mathematics we have all the data [...] and yet we don’t understand. We always come back to the contemplation of our human wretchedness. What force is in relation to our will, the impenetrable opacity of mathematics is in relation to our intelligence." Simone Weil, "The Notebooks of Simone Weil" Vol. 2, 1935)

"[...] there is more difficulty in stating our principle so as to be applicable when our data are confined to a finite part of the universe. Things from outside may always crash in and have unexpected effects." (Bertrand Russell, "Religion and Science", 1935)

"[...] scientists are not a select few intelligent enough to think in terms of 'broad sweeping theoretical laws and principles'. Instead, scientists are people specifically trained to build models that incorporate theoretical assumptions and empirical evidence. Working with models is essential to the performance of their daily work; it allows them to construct arguments and to collect data." (Peter Imhof, Science Vol. 287, 1935–1936)

"Statistics is a scientific discipline concerned with collection, analysis, and interpretation of data obtained from observation or experiment. The subject has a coherent structure based on the theory of Probability and includes many different procedures which contribute to research and development throughout the whole of Science and Technology." (Egon Pearson, 1936)

"Science will stagnate only when all will agree that only one interpretation can be drawn from a given series of data." (Ross A Gortner, "Selected Topics in Colloid Chemistry with Especial Reference to Biochemical Problems", 1937)

"The mathematical machine works with unerring precision; but what we get out of it is nothing more than a rearrangement of what we put into it. In the last analysis observation - the actual contact with real events - is the only reliable way of securing the data of natural history." (William R Thompson, "Science and Common Sense", 1937)

"Because they are determined mathematically instead of according to their position in the data, the arithmetic and geometric averages are not ascertained by graphic methods." (John R Riggleman & Ira N Frisbee, "Business Statistics", 1938)

"The laws of science are the permanent contributions to knowledge - the individual pieces that are fitted together in an attempt to form a picture of the physical universe in action. As the pieces fall into place, we often catch glimpses of emerging patterns, called theories; they set us searching for the missing pieces that will fill in the gaps and complete the patterns. These theories, these provisional interpretations of the data in hand, are mere working hypotheses, and they are treated with scant respect until they can be tested by new pieces of the puzzle." (Edwin P Whipple, "Experiment and Experience", [Commencement Address, California Institute of Technology] 1938)

"An inference, if it is to have scientific value, must constitute a prediction concerning future data. If the inference is to be made purely with the help of the distribution theory of statistics, the experiments that constitute evidence for the inference must arise from a state of statistical control; until that state is reached, there is no universe, normal or otherwise, and the statistician’s calculations by themselves are an illusion if not a delusion. The fact is that when distribution theory is not applicable for lack of control, any inference, statistical or otherwise, is little better than a conjecture. The state of statistical control is therefore the goal of all experimentation." (William E Deming, "Statistical Method from the Viewpoint of Quality Control", 1939)

"Science [...] involves active, purposeful search; it discovers, accumulates, sifts, orders, and tests data; it is a slow, painstaking, laborious activity; it is a search after bodies of knowledge sufficiently comprehensive to lead to the discovery of uniformities, sequential orders or so-called 'laws'; it may be carried on by an individual, but it gains relevance only as it produces data which can be added to and tested by the findings of others." (Constantine Panunzio, "Major Social Institutions", 1939)