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To: ModelBreaker
In olden times at my grad school, there was a professor who had a student run a study and perform a statistical test. The test showed the results were without significance.

The professor kept the data and each following year, she had a new student perform the same test, with the same result. After a few years, her student made an error in calculation and reported the results were significant.

The professor then submitted the study for publication. She included means and standard deviations for the various groups in her study.

Apparently, she was unaware that any reader of the published aricle could verify the statistical test from the means and SDs. One reader dicovered the error and demanded a retraction.

The professor's response? She loudly complained, I should never have included the standard deviations!

110 posted on 08/30/2005 1:36:52 PM PDT by Marylander
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To: Marylander
Apparently, she was unaware that any reader of the published aricle could verify the statistical test from the means and SDs. One reader dicovered the error and demanded a retraction. The professor's response? She loudly complained, I should never have included the standard deviations!

Was this in the social sciences? Her whining sounds like she would support outcome based education and self-esteem.

118 posted on 08/30/2005 3:30:59 PM PDT by ModelBreaker
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