"It is a well-known statistical paradox that the average age of women over forty is under forty…" (Morris J Slonim,"Sampling in a Nutshell, 1960)
"No observations are absolutely trustworthy. In no field of observation can we entirely rule out the possibility that an observation is vitiated by a large measurement or execution error. If a reading is found to lie a very long way from its fellows in a series of replicate observations, there must be a suspicion that the deviation is caused by a blunder or gross error of some kind. [...] One sufficiently erroneous reading can wreck the whole of a statistical analysis, however many observations there are." (Francis J Anscombe, "Rejection of Outliers", Technometrics Vol. 2" (2), 1960)
"One feature [...] which requires much more justification than is usually given, is the setting up of unplausible null hypotheses. For example, a statistician may set out a test to see whether two drugs have exactly the same effect, or whether a regression line is exactly straight. These hypotheses can scarcely be taken literally." (Cedric A B Smith, "Book review of Norman T. J. Bailey: Statistical Methods in Biology", Applied Statistics 9, 1960)
"One sufficiently erroneous reading can wreck the whole of a statistical analysis, however many observations there are." (Francis J Anscombe, "Rejection of Outliers", Technometrics Vol. 2, 1960)
"Predictions, prophecies, and perhaps even guidance - those who suggested this title to me must have hoped for such-even though occasional indulgences in such actions by statisticians has undoubtedly contributed to the characterization of a statistician as a man who draws straight lines from insufficient data to foregone conclusions!" (John W Tukey,"Where do We Go From Here?", Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 55, No. 289, 1960)
"Every economic and social situation or problem is now described in statistical terms, and we feel that it is such statistics which give us the real basis of fact for understanding and analysing problems and difficulties, and for suggesting remedies. In the main we use such statistics or figures without any elaborate theoretical analysis; little beyond totals, simple averages and perhaps index numbers. Figures have become the language in which we describe our economy or particular parts of it, and the language in which we argue about policy." (Ely Devons, "Essays in Economics", 1961)
"Indeed the language of statistics is rarely as objective as we imagine. The way statistics are presented, their arrangement in a particular way in tables, the juxtaposition of sets of figures, in itself reflects the judgment of the author about what is significant and what is trivial in the situation which the statistics portray." (Ely Devons, "Essays in Economics", 1961)
"It is now proved beyond doubt that smoking is one of the leading causes of statistics." (Fletcher Knebel, 1961)
"It might be reasonable to expect that the more we know about any set of statistics, the greater the confidence we would have in using them, since we would know in which directions they were defective; and that the less we know about a set of figures, the more timid and hesitant we would be in using them. But, in fact, it is the exact opposite which is normally the case; in this field, as in many others, knowledge leads to caution and hesitation, it is ignorance that gives confidence and boldness. For knowledge about any set of statistics reveals the possibility of error at every stage of the statistical process; the difficulty of getting complete coverage in the returns, the difficulty of framing answers precisely and unequivocally, doubts about the reliability of the answers, arbitrary decisions about classification, the roughness of some of the estimates that are made before publishing the final results. Knowledge of all this, and much else, in detail, about any set of figures makes one hesitant and cautious, perhaps even timid, in using them." (Ely Devons, "Essays in Economics", 1961)
"No Chancellor of the Exchequer could introduce his proposals for monetary and fiscal policy in the House of Commons by saying 'I have looked at all the forecasts, some go one way, some another; so I decided to toss a coin and assume inflationary tendencies if it came down heads and deflationary if it came down tails' [...] And statistics, however uncertain, can apparently provide some basis." (Ely Devons, "Essays in Economics", 1961)
"The knowledge that the economist uses in analysing economic problems and in giving advice on them is of thre First, theories of how the economic system works" (and why it sometimes does not work so well); second, commonsense maxims about reasonable economic behaviour; and third, knowledge of the facts describing the main features of the economy, many of these facts being statistical." (Ely Devons, "Essays in Economics", 1961)
"The most important and frequently stressed prescription for avoiding pitfalls in the use of economic statistics, is that one should find out before using any set of published statistics, how they have been collected, analysed and tabulated. This is especially important, as you know, when the statistics arise not from a special statistical enquiry, but are a by-product of law or administration. Only in this way can one be sure of discovering what exactly it is that the figures measure, avoid comparing the non-comparable, take account of changes in definition and coverage, and as a consequence not be misled into mistaken interpretations and analysis of the events which the statistics portray." (Ely Devons, "Essays in Economics", 1961)
"The two most important characteristics of the language of statistics are first, that it describes things in quantitative terms, and second, that it gives this description an air of accuracy and precision." (Ely Devons, "Essays in Economics", 1961)
"The urn model is to be the expression of three postulates:" (1) the constancy of a probability distribution, ensured by the solidity of the vessel," (2) the random-character of the choice, ensured by the narrowness of the mouth, which is to prevent visibility of the contents and any consciously selective choice," (3) the independence of successive choices, whenever the drawn balls are put back into the urn. Of course in abstract probability and statistics the word 'choice' can be avoided and all can be done without any reference to such a model. But as soon as the abstract theory is to be applied, random choice plays an essential role." (Hans Freudenthal, "The Concept and the Role of the Model in Mathematics and Natural and Social Sciences", 1961)
"[Statistics] is concerned with things we can count. In so far as things, persons, are unique or ill-defi ned, statistics are meaningless and statisticians silenced; in so far as things are similar and definite - so many workers over 25, so many nuts and bolts made during December - they can be counted and new statistical facts are born." (Maurice S Bartlett, "Essays on Probability and Statistics", 1962)
"Statistics is the description in numerical terms of experiences concerning phenomena not subject to regular uniformity. […] Statistic is therefore a specific method of history." (Ludwig von Mises, "The Ultimate Foundation of Economic Science: An Essay on Method", 1962)
"Far better an approximate answer to the right question, which is often vague, than the exact answer to the wrong question, which can always be made precise." (John Tukey, "The Future of Data Analysis", Annals of Mathematical Statistics, Vol. 33, No. 1, 1962)
"[Statistics] is concerned with things we can count. In so far as things, persons, are unique or ill-defi ned, statistics are meaningless and statisticians silenced; in so far as things are similar and definite - so many workers over 25, so many nuts and bolts made during December - they can be counted and new statistical facts are born." (Maurice S Bartlett, "Essays on Probability and Statistics", 1962)
"All predictions are statistical, but some predictions have such a high probability that one tends to regard them as certain." (Marshall J Walker, "The Nature of Scientific Thought", 1963)
"Mathematical statistics provides an exceptionally clear example of the relationship between mathematics and the external world. The external world provides the experimentally measured distribution curve; mathematics provides the equation" (the mathematical model) that corresponds to the empirical curve. The statistician may be guided by a thought experiment in finding the corresponding equation." (Marshall J Walker, "The Nature of Scientific Thought", 1963)
"Statistics is that branch of mathematics which deals with the accumulation and analysis of quantitative data. There are three principal subdivisions in the field of statistics but these overlap, more often than not, in actual practice. First, inference from samples to population by means of probability is called statistical inference. Second, descriptive statistics is defined as the characterization and summarization of a given set of data without direct reference to inference. And finally, sampling statistics deals with methods of obtaining samples for statistical inference." (David B MacNeil, "Modern Mathematics for the Practical Man", 1963)
"Statistics is the branch of scientific method which deals with the data obtained by counting or measuring the properties of populations of natural phenomena." (Sir Maurice G Kendall & Alan Stuart, "The Advanced Theory of Statistics", 1963)
"Statistics is that branch of mathematics which deals with the accumulation and analysis of quantitative data. There are three principal subdivisions in the field of statistics but these overlap, more often than not, in actual practice. First, inference from samples to population by means of probability is called statistical inference. Second, descriptive statistics is defined as the characterization and summarization of a given set of data without direct reference to inference. And finally, sampling statistics deals with methods of obtaining samples for statistical inference." (David B MacNeil, "Modern Mathematics for the Practical Man", 1963)
"Statistics provides a quantitative example of the scientific process usually described qualitatively by saying that scientists observe nature, study the measurements, postulate models to predict new measurements, and validate the model by the success of prediction." (Marshall J Walker, "The Nature of Scientific Thought", 1963)
"The null hypothesis of no difference has been judged to be no longer a sound or fruitful basis for statistical investigation. […] Significance tests do not provide the information that scientists need, and, furthermore, they are not the most effective method for analyzing and summarizing data." (Cherry A Clark, "Hypothesis Testing in Relation to Statistical Methodology", Review of Educational Research Vol. 33, 1963)
"[…] in the statistical world you can multiply ignorance by a constant and get truth." (Raymond F Jones, "The Non-Statistical Man", 1964)
"[…] statistical techniques are tools of thought, and not substitutes for thought." (Abraham Kaplan, "The Conduct of Inquiry", 1964)
"There are two kinds of statistics, the kind you look up and the kind you make up." (Rex Todhunter Stout,"Death of a Doxy", 1966)
"The purpose of statistical mechanics, for phenomena of equilibrium, is to calculate time averages, and the ensemble theory is useful only as a tool enabling us to calculate time averages without knowing how to integrate the equations of motion. The ensemble theory is a mathematical device; we are wasting our time if we try to explain it by itself." (Clifford Truesdell, "Six Lectures on Modern Natural Philosophy", 1966)
"To know the quantum mechanical state of a system implies, in general, only statistical restrictions on the results of measurements. It seems interesting to ask if this statistical element be thought of as arising, as in classical statistical mechanics, because the states in question are averages over better defined states for which individually the results would be quite determined. These hypothetical 'dispersion free' states would be specified not only by the quantum mechanical state vector but also by additional 'hidden variables' - 'hidden' because if states with prescribed values of these variables could actually be prepared, quantum mechanics would be observably inadequate." (John S Bell, "On the problem of hidden variables in quantum mechanics" [in "Reviews of Modern Physics"], 1966)
"The science of statistics is the chief instrumentality through which the progress of civilization is now measured and by which its development hereafter will be largely controlled." (Daniel J Boorstin, "The Decline of Radicalism", 1969)
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