Type III Error

Folk Wisdom, Dogs, and Statistics

I was talking to a chance encountered person at a gathering the other night and this person told me that the worst class they ever took was "Statistics," unaware of my background. I agreed that Statistics is often poorly taught, often at the introductory level by people who do not understand it. It becomes a hodgepodge of seemingly unrelated equations, terminology, and counter-intuitive rules.

I said that actually, the fundamental ideas of Statistics are common sense. Sometimes they are embodied in folk sayings. Some of these are ...

Measure Once, Cut Twice. Measure Twice, Cut Once.

We learn from our mistakes.

Failure teaches Success.

Actions speak louder than words.

An Experiment speaks louder than an Expert.

Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

Only a fool tests the depth of the water with both feet.

The burnt child dreads the fire.

There is safety in numbers.

There are two sides to every question.

Some years ago I took my dog to Obedience Training. We were given handouts for each week's homework. Now dogs do not know anything about human language or what we want them to do, at least not at first. How do you train a dog? It was immediately obvious to me that the methods presented in the class and in the handouts were just a presentation of controlled data with replications. The dog as a Statistician would need to analyze this data, draw conclusions, and learn what was required. Dogs understand statistical reasoning. So do humans. We are all Statisticians.

posted by X-Bar @ 5:14 PM