Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Stephen Stigler

Quote by Stephen Stigler

“Beware of the problem of testing too many hypotheses; the more you torture the data, the more likely they are to confess, but confessions obtained under duress may not be admissible in the court of scientific opinion.”

Quote by Stephen Stigler

Create image

Author

Stephen Stigler
Stephen Stigler

Stephen Stigler is a distinguished statistician known for his significant contributions to the field of statistics. Born on August 10, 1941, he has earned a reputation as a leading figure in the statistical community. more

You May Also Like

“But at the same time, there must never be the least hesitation in giving up a position the moment it is shown to be untenable. It is not going too far to say that the greatness of a scientific investigator does not rest on the fact of his having never made a mistake, but rather on his readiness to admit that he has done so, whenever the contrary evidence is cogent enough.”

GivingDoeMadeDoneEnoughMomentsFactsScienceMistakeOpinionPositionGreatnessGiving UpEvidenceContraryMade A MistakeHesitationReadinessInvestigators
Author:William Bayliss
Create image

“But, as Bacon has well pointed out, truth is more likely to come out of error, if this is clear and definite, than out of confusion, and my experience teaches me that it is better to hold a well-understood and intelligible opinion, even if it should turn out to be wrong, than to be content with a muddle-headed mixture of conflicting views, sometimes miscalled impartiality, and often no better than no opinion at all.”

IfsShouldWellsSometimesScienceTurnsViewsOpinionTeachClearTruth IsUnderstoodErrorsConfusionDefiniteMixturesImpartialityMuddle
Author:William Bayliss
Create image

“In my opinion the separation of the c- and ac-stars is the most important advancement in stellar classification since the trials by Vogel and Secchi ... To neglect the c-properties in classifying stellar spectra, I think, is nearly the same thing as if a zoologist, who has detected the deciding differences between a whale and a fish, would continue classifying them together.”

IfsThinkingImportantTogetherScienceStarsDifferencesOpinionImportancePropertyFishesSeparationTrialsNeglectAdvancementWhalesClassificationStellarZoologistClassifying
Author:Ejnar Hertzsprung
Create image

“About 85 per cent of my "thinking" time was spent getting into a position to think, to make a decision, to learn something I needed to know. Much more time went into finding or obtaining information than into digesting it. Hours went into the plotting of graphs... When the graphs were finished, the relations were obvious at once, but the plotting had to be done in order to make them so.”

ThinkingKnowsDoneScienceOrderHoursDecisionInformationPositionNeededFindingsRelationObviousFinishedMore TimeCentsObtainingGraphs
Book:In memoriam, J.C.R. Licklider, 1915-1990
Create image