RSSeNEWS to be determined...

“One key topic is absent in the list of topics for the annual conference: the validity of data”, writes RSS NEWS reader Tony Baker in a recent letter to the publication (April 2010 issue).

Baker comments: “This is the most important issue in any statistical study. I came across it in my first assignment in ICI. The subject is not addressed in the school syllabus either. Hence nowadays any numbers will do and when they are put through a computer they are made respectable.

“I have been involved in defending product claims internationally with advertising boards, the Committee on Safety of Medicine and with legal cases. In every case the validity of the data was a key issue. As a profession we have a lot to learn from other professions, particularly the legal and engineering professions.

“An excellent paper that should be read by all students is by J M Hammersley in The Statistician, 23 (2), June 1974.”