November 17, 2009
Stephen T. Ziliak
Roosevelt University
Noon-1:30 PM
The East Bank Club
500 N. Kingsbury, Chicago 60610
The Cult of Statistical Significance
Our November speaker is Stephen T. Ziliak of Roosevelt University.
Abstract:
We want to persuade you of one claim: that William Sealy Gosset (1876-1937)-aka "Student" of "Student's" t-test-was right, and that his difficult friend, Ronald A. Fisher (1890-1962), though a genius, was wrong. Fit is not the same thing as importance. Statistical significance is not the same thing as scientific importance or economic sense. But the mistaken equation is made, we find, in 8 or 9 of 10 articles appearing in the leading journals of science, economics to medicine. The history of this "standard error" of science involves varied characters and plot twists, but especially R. A. Fisher's canonical translation of "Student's" t. W.S. Gosset, aka "Student," working as Head Experimental Brewer at Guinness, took an economic approach to the logic of uncertainty. Against Gosset's wishes his friend Fisher erased the consciously economic element, Gosset's "real error." We want to bring it back.
Stephen T. Ziliak ( Roosevelt University) and Deirdre N. McCloskey ( University of Illinois-Chicago) co-authored The Cult of Statistical Significance: How the Standard Error Costs Us Jobs, Justice, and Lives. University of Michigan Press, 2008.
Steve Ziliak has held academic appointments at a number of universities, including Emory and the Georgia Institute of Technology where, in 2002, he was awarded Faculty Member of the Year. He is currently Professor of Economics at Roosevelt University.
Lunch is $30 for CCASA members, $35 for nonmembers. Nonmembers, join the chapter for a year for only $15 and get the discount plus all the other benefits of membership!
As usual, the Lucile Derrick Fund will purchase a limited number of tickets for students who wish to attend. If you are a student and would like to take advantage of this offer, please register online below, and contact Gerald Funk, expressing your interest.
Please register for the luncheon by Friday November 14, 2009.
Register online at http://www.123signup.com/calendar?Org=chicagoasa
Questions: Contact Gerald Funk, CCASA Past-President,
Phone: 773-508-3561 or E-mail: gfunk@luc.edu