🚀 go-pugleaf

Tim Dorcey wants to know why the behavioural science students
all want to use multi-mode maximum likelihood hierarchical
factor analysis and the engineers want to investigate the
outliers in a simple regression. I suggest this is because,
in engineering, like in medicine, lives may be lost or property
belonging to someone who has a smart lawyer damaged by the
application of of misguided statistics. You do not find
people who are accountable to the outside world using factor
analysis because if someone got killed or somebody's house
fell down there is simply no way you could explain its use, much
less justify it, in a law court. I suggest that lack of accountability
is the largest reason for the apalling statistical tomfoolery
that goes on in purely academic subjects.

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+ "Apres l'heure c'est l'apres-heure, mais apres Loire,       +
+  c'est l'Eure et Loire"    J P Sartre                       +
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Ronan Conroy
Lecturer in computing and         Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
biostatistics                     123, St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2.
                                  (353)-(1)-784422 [fax:780934]