s-news
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: statistical terminology controversy

To: "Frank E Harrell Jr" <f.harrell@vanderbilt.edu>
Subject: Re: statistical terminology controversy
From: "Sung, Iyue" <Iyue.Sung@lm.mmc.com>
Date: Wed, 18 May 2005 23:25:15 -0400
Cc: "S-PLUS Newsgroup" <s-news@lists.biostat.wustl.edu>
Thread-index: AcVcHhktiHoxEegWSYq1xpEu/zHYkgAAn15g
Thread-topic: [S] statistical terminology controversy
Mmm, well - I wasn't speaking to whether Dependent/Independent are good
terms in meteorology; I'd agree that it may be confusing.  But I'm
assuming Weather folks have a good rationale for using those terms.
Anyways, I interpreted the issue as whether Winnie and colleagues should
use the common labels used in meteorology, or that used by
statisticians.



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Frank E Harrell Jr [mailto:f.harrell@vanderbilt.edu] 
> Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2005 10:55 PM
> To: Sung, Iyue
> Cc: S-PLUS Newsgroup
> Subject: Re: [S] statistical terminology controversy
> 
> Sung, Iyue wrote:
> > 
> > I don't see a controversy; it depends on the audience.
> 
> I can't quite agree with that.  'Dependent' and 'independent' 
> datasets is not valid terminology in any field that I know 
> of, especially statistics.
> 
> -Frank Harrell
> 
> >  
> > Different fields use different terms for the same 
> statistical concepts.
> > So you'd use dependent/independent if you're speaking to 
> > statisticians; development/testing to meteorologist.
> >  
> > I'm not even sure it'd be desirable to have the same 
> statistical term 
> > used in all fields that uses statistics (most, to be sure).
> > That would probably make dry journal articles even drier.
> >  
> > That's my $.02,
> > - Iyue
> >  
> > 
> >     *From:* s-news-owner@lists.biostat.wustl.edu
> >     [mailto:s-news-owner@lists.biostat.wustl.edu] *On Behalf Of
> >     *Lambert.Winnie
> >     *Sent:* Wednesday, May 18, 2005 5:24 PM
> >     *To:* S-PLUS Newsgroup
> >     *Subject:* [S] statistical terminology controversy
> > 
> >     * This is NOT an S-LUS-specific question, * just 
> letting you know so
> >     you don't have to read any further if not interested in anything
> >     non-S-PLUS.
> > 
> >      
> > 
> >     There is a bit of a controversy in my office concerning specific
> >     statistical terminology. I developed a set of logistic 
> regression
> >     equations that calculate the probability of lightning 
> occurrence for
> >     the day using a 15-year data set of several observation 
> types.  I
> >     stratified the data into two sets: one was used to create the
> >     equations, and the other was used to test the equations'
> >     performance. In my field, these are commonly called the 
> 'dependent'
> >     and 'independent' data sets, respectively.
> > 
> >      
> > 
> >     One of us insists that the common terminology be used, the other
> >     says the data sets should be called 'development' and 'testing'
> >     since that is what they are used for, and since the terms
> >     'dependent' and 'independent' refer to other issues in 
> statistics.
> > 
> >      
> > 
> >     Any statistics expert willing to jump into the fray is welcome.
> >     There is no money riding on this, only pride.
> > 
> >      
> > 
> >     
> *****************************************************************
> > 
> >     Winifred C. Lambert  Senior Scientist/Meteorologist
> > 
> >     ENSCO, Inc.
> > 
> >     Aerospace Sciences and Engineering Division
> > 
> >     1980 N. Atlantic Ave., Suite 230
> > 
> >     Cocoa Beach , FL   32931
> > 
> >     VOICE:  321.853.8130  FAX:  321.853.8415
> > 
> >     EMAIL:  lambert.winnie@ensco.com 
> <mailto:lambert.winnie@ensco.com>
> > 
> >      
> > 
> >     AMU Quarterly Reports are available online:
> > 
> >     http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/amu
> > 
> >     
> *****************************************************************

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>