>Surely one of the important things for students of statistics (and I could
>probably replace that by any other discipline name) to learn is to communicate
>the results of their work to others. For a consulting statistician this is
>clearly an absolutely essential skill, but it also applies for someone working
>within an organisation, for an academic writing a research paper, and of
>course
>for a teacher (even university teachers....)
I couldn't agree more. In fact, I often tell my students that they don't
really understand the analysis if they can't explain it in words. So I
actually spend at least some class time every semester to "teaching
writing," as odd as that may sound for a statistician.
I tend to give two sorts of exercises, those that are simple "what's the
answer" items, and longer "research setting" questions. In the former, I'm
looking for a number, a table, a graph, etc. The latter normally asks for a
"Results" paragraph, with the data communicated in the proper verbal and
graphic form. Since I'm in Psychology, and since we have a clear standard
for such matters (The APA Style Manual), they are expected to use that
form. (If nothing else, my students can damned sure write an APA Results
section by the time they leave! Actually, they learn a lot of stats. But
alumni report two things they've carried away from the course--that they
can actually do and understand stats, and that they can REALLY write data
summaries.)
********************************************
Richard S. Lehman email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Professor of Psychology That's an underscore, NOT a hyphen!
Whitely Laboratories
Franklin & Marshall College 717 291 4202
Box 3003
Lancaster, PA, 17604-3003
Currently on sabbatical leave and can be reached at:
1930 W. San Marcos Blvd. #119
San Marcos, CA 92069
760 727 1452
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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