Speaking of alchemy.... the first book that we would call accurate on metallurgy & metallurgical chemistry was by Agricola, in something like 1555. Everything before was dubious. I don't think that alchemy served particularly well for the 500 - 1000 years it was used.
Jay Jerry Dallal wrote: > Herman Rubin wrote: > > > If you believe in fixed level testing, you are following > > what is essentially a religious superstition. > > I've heard a lot of people say this. There's religion and then > there's fundamentalism. It's one thing to say that significance > tests have to be used properly. It's another to say they should be > abandoned. It seems they've served us quite well for nearly a > century. So did alchemy, I suppose. Still, the way they are used > in NEJM or JAMA doesn't give me too many sleepless nights. In fact, > if I had sleepless nights, I might look at NEJM or JAMA and use > significance tests to *help* me choose a treatment. -- Jay Warner Principal Scientist Warner Consulting, Inc. 4444 North Green Bay Road Racine, WI 53404-1216 USA Ph: (262) 634-9100 FAX: (262) 681-1133 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] web: http://www.a2q.com The A2Q Method (tm) -- What do you want to improve today? . . ================================================================= Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at: . http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ . =================================================================
