Statistical Humor Gone Awry!

So, we have gone through the first 5 commandments of Statistical Inference. I am going to move to the next 5 in the next few posts, but before I do it has come to my attention that by presenting these, I have gotten myself into a little bit of a dilemma. My attempt at statistics humor may have gone awry!

I get the feeling that people wondering when it is ok to do statistical analysis, or is it EVER correct to do statistical analysis. Worst yet, I think statistics can only be done in a laboratory with white coats!

First and foremost let me assure you I do believe whole heartedly in statistical analysis ;-) If I didn’t, well, I wouldn’t have worked for the last decade plus in the arena. Secondly, I am not the anti-layman stats guy in the ivory tower throwing pennies and guessing the probability of it hitting someone. Far be it, I am actually a trained psychologist, not a statistics major so I whole heartedly believe that a statistician can encompass people who are not “classically” trained but apply statistics to solve problems. Lastly, the 10 commandments are a tongue in cheek attempt at humor that some of us stats geeks really enjoy. Sadly, when I first received “the list” from one of my co-workers, all stats geeks I was working with at the time stopped whatever they were doing and ran the Xerox copier out of paper.

Bottom line, I think anyone can perform valid statistical testing, but it must be valid, and must follow the rules of what the models were designed for. If you can do this, you will have a wonderful design and results, if not, you are going to find yourself into a mess and you won’t really know why! If you need help, find someone who does understand all the nuances that’s why they are there!