Hello
I've been asked to give a half hour talk about statistics at a
conference and was stuck with that rather annoying misquote 'lies, damn
lies and statistics' as a title. I've told the organisers that I'm not
going to talk about that ... but instead have retitled the thing 'how to
look after your statistician'. I thought that I'd try to do some
'educating' on how best a statistican can help research projects, the
sort of thing that a statistician *can't* do for them - and the sort of
thing that really 'winds' statisticians up. (hopefully the talk wont
just be me ranting for half an hour).
I was hoping that some of you, might share with me - your personal
opinions on how the 'user' of statisticians can best get along with and
gain benefit from our humble profession.
For instance. I tend to get a bit annoyed with people who have
collected thousands of measurements from each of ten subjects (rather
than say ten measurements on a thousand subjects), or who come and ask
you to 'rescue their experiment' after the experiment has been
completed. I also tend to get a bit irked with people who turn nice
continious variables into categories (and then treat them as such) for
no reason that I can see at all. Or possibly worst of all the
experimenter who comes with a pile of data, drops it on your desk and
says 'what does this tell us' (to which I usually reply, what question
were you asking?)
I would be really grateful if you would share your thoughts/experiences
on how we (or they) can interact more effectively. I'll summarise to
the list - with the names of respondants removed to 'protect the innocent'.
Many thanks as always
Graham Clarke
--
Dr G.S.Clarke
Lecturer in Physiology & Biometery
Faculty of Health Studies
University of Wales, Bangor
Fron Heulog
Ffriddoedd Road
Bangor
Gwynedd LL57 2EF
Tel: 01248 383157
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
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