 |
 |
Having become more involved in "communication skills", the point I would add to the discussion is that much communication is marred because each side brings, but does not recognise, its own background knowledge and assumptions: how could they do otherwise? In many everyday situations, this is widely recognised - is it "a right" to march down a street, or is is "fair" that one person gets paid one hundred times the rate of another? When technical experts talk between themselves, or with high-status outsiders, the situation appears to be reversed. My (possibly smug, or cynical) opinion is that in this context it can be a matter of pride not to "appear ignorant", and there is evidence that society reinforces this attitude - see, for example, the sneers in the press whenever a judge asks in open court "What is a sex toy?" or "Who is Ronaldo?", which might be perfectly genuine expressions of personal ignorance or simply an attempt to establish that everyone is using a common understanding or assumption. Closer to home, I (and many of you!) have sat through many meetings with colleagues or clients who engage in long discussions about "computers", "networks", "the Internet", "databases", "models" (statistical, not super), "sampling", "significant results", etc. etc. - with most of the wrangling derived from a failure to recognise assumptions (preconceptions, expectations, fears, vague wishes, ...). Hence the suggestions that there is a single "correct" definition of a term like "multivariate" is doomed to failure. It *is* used in different ways in different contexts. In a calm, rational arena, you might hope to preface a discussion with a definition, "By multivariate I mean ... which implies ...". In a sensitive area, this is a recipe for being put down as a pedant. If you don't believe me, start a pub discussion about switching to a common European currency, but say you need first to establish what we mean by "money" (in the economist's sense). R. Allan Reese Email: [log in to unmask] Associate Manager Direct voice: +44 1482 466845 Graduate Research Institute Voice messages: +44 1482 466844 Hull University, Hull HU6 7RX, UK. Fax: +44 1482 466846 ==================================================================== Hull: a 1st Division University (Daily Telegraph, London 20/8/97) %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%