...And it extends even further. Many of us who toil in areas outside of
academia have our work and productivity "supervised" by managers or
directors who have little or no training in statistics, beyond a survey
course. They receive the flashy brochures and read the ads that promise
analytical software that will provide significant information, without
the bother of of formulating one of those fancy-shmancy hypotheses.
The higher-ups come to view data mining, decision support, outcomes
analysis, & etc. as requiring no more skill than the ability to use a PC.
I call it "The Myth of the Statistical Meat Grinder". The push of a
button or two will generate the answer to all corporate questions, plus a
few neat-o graphs for the board of directors packets.
Michael T. Wyatt, Ph.D.
(Embittered) Healthcare Analyst
Quality Improvement Dept.
DCH Regional Medical Center
Tuscaloosa, AL
On Wed, 26 Apr 2000 11:38:28 -0400 dennis roberts <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
writes:
> At 07:57 AM 4/26/00 -0500, Herman Rubin wrote:
>
>
> >It does not surprise me one bit. The typical statistics
> >course teaches statistical methods and pronouncements, with
> >no attempt to achieve understanding. .... snip of more
>
> this is something i happen to agree with herman about ... but, it is
> a much
> broader problem than can be attributed to what happens in one course
>
> it is an attitude about what higher education is all about ... and
> what the
> goals are for it
>
> 'going to college' ... be it undergraduate level or graduate level
> ... has
> become a much more hit and miss experience, residence has little
> meaning
> ... that is being tailored more and more to the convenience of
> students ...
> and to what is 'user' friendly (or it won't SELL). studying
> principles in
> disciplines is hard work ... NOT user friendly ... so, less and less
> is
> being required in the way of diligent study.
>
> take graduate school for example ... there was a time, was there not
> ...
> where doctoral students were REALLY expected to be responsible for
> their
> dissertations AND were expected to be the experts in that particular
> area
> of inquiry ... AND to be competent enough to have done the work
> him/herself
> ... and to UNDERSTAND it .. ie, BE ABLE TO DEFEND ALL OF IT
>
> but, what i have noticed over many years is that dissertations are
> becoming
> more of a committee effort ... yes, the student MAY have had the
> idea
> (though not necessarily) but, from there ... he/she gets help with
> the
> design ... has someone else do the analysis (because he/she did not
> take
> any/sufficient work in analytic methods to understand what is going
> on) ...
> gets help in writing and editing .. and, even gets help in terms of
> what
> their results MEAN ...
>
> gives new meaning to the term: "cooperative learning"
>
>
>
>
>
>
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