Koen Vermeer wrote:
>
> On Fri, 06 Dec 2002 10:38:58 +0000, Robert J. MacG. Dawson wrote:
>
> > The problem with *any* hypothesis test for normality (or any other
> > "gatekeeper test", such as the infamous "F before t") is that it
> > answers the wrong question.
>
> I agree with you on the essence of what you are saying, but I think your
> statement is too strong.
>
> In my case, I wanted to know whether my data was normally distributed or
> not because I wanted to set bounds on what would be considered normal (as
> in healthy) and
> what not. If the data was normal, I could use the normal distribution to
> determine these bounds.
OK, that makes some sort of sense - but still, you want to find out if
the distribution IS, appproximately, normal, not that it ISN'T exactly
so.
In principle, I could wreck any "positive" finding by dropping a
truckload of perfectly good data off unsolicited at your lab & insisting
that you use it!
-Robert Dawson
.
.
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