Readings for Class of October 28, 2015
On the web site I have listed links to seven readings that I would like you to complete for our
next class on the 28th of October. There is a lot of reading here since you will be tracing
statistical research from the end of the 19th century with the pioneering work of of Karl Pearson
through the final debates about these tools in the famous Pearson-Nyman controversy of the
middle 20th century. Do not try to do this reading all at once!! Pretend that you will have class
each Wednesday between now and then read at least three readings for each of the first two
weeks. and Wednesday October 21st. Note that the t-test paper link is a scanned copy of
Gosset’s famous paper (under the nom de plume “A. Student”) where he presented the notion
of the t distribution and the t-test. You can try reading it, if you wish, but I am simply including
it so that you can see how the world of statistic first found out about this important
breakthrough. It blew Karl Pearson’s mind! If you have read the other six pieces by the 21 st,
you will have a week to write the short piece I will describe at the end of this document. The
readings are:
1 The paper by Pat Hutchinson that I was referring to in class where the author author
compared the ideas of Kuhn and Popper.
2 The life and work of Karl Pearson in a paper written by Bernard Norton (Pearson1)
3 A piece written in honor of Pearson’s retirement as director London University’s Galton
Laboratory in 1933 by Burton Camp (Pearson2).
4 The connection between Karl Pearson and Eugenics by Dezel and Poliak.
5 A summery of R. A. Fisher’s life and work by C. R. Rao (Fisherlife)
6 A marvelous article by Box that connects the Guiness Brewery in Dublin with the work of
both William Gosset and R. A. Fisher.
7 Gosset’s t distribution paper reprinted from Biometrika.
Short paper due by the beginning of class on October 28th
The topic: During our first class meeting I spoke about “connections” and we have traced the
development of systematic investigation (research) in the West from the classical Greeks
though the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Age of Reason, and are now dealing with the
nature of research through the middle of the 20th century. Imagine that you were asked to
make a short presentation on the concept of “connections” between the ideas of Aristotle and
the work of Karl Pearson. Briefly describe what you would discuss in this short presentation.
Write a minimum of four double spaced, 12 point font (mine are old eyes!) pages. Grammar
and spelling count! If you think you might need help with your writing, ask someone whose
writing you trust to proofread the document for you. If you quote or cite a piece of literature,
be sure to include it, in proper APA style, in a reference section at the end of the document.
Remember you are doctoral students!! Email to document to me at blissl@fiu.edu so that I
have it by 5 PM on October 28th.
I will read these documents and give you detailed feedback, but as is our custom in this class,
the assignment will not be graded. However, no excuses will be accepted for having the
document to me on time. Failure to complete the assignment on time will affect your final
grade.
I will be out of the country from Saturday, October 10th to Sunday, October 25th.
LBB