Re: Data & Theory

["Jerry Cohen" <jjcohen@PRODIGY.NET>]

Reminds me of some old dafynitions:



THEORY-- something nobody believes, except the person proposing it



DATA-- something everybody believes, except the person who obtained it





----- Original Message -----

From: William Prestwich <prestwic@MCMAIL.CIS.MCMASTER.CA>

To: Otto G. Raabe <ograabe@UCDAVIS.EDU>

Cc: R. William Field <bill-field@UIOWA.EDU>; BERNARD L COHEN

<blc+@PITT.EDU>; <radsafe-digest@list.vanderbilt.edu>

Sent: Thursday, February 21, 2002 6:58 AM

Subject: Re: Radon and Smoking (individual vs aggregate)





> What I don't understand about all this is that if the problem

> arises as Dr.Field suggests, why is it not possible to postulate a

> specific joint distribution which can reproduce Dr.Cohen's reults?. For

> example let us say a bivariate lognormal distribution could be used with

> adjustable parameters varied to fit the data.

> Perhaps I am just too simple minded. I have always felt as an

> experimentalist that data is sacrosanct and cannot be ignored. So I

> believe it is incumbent upon the supporters of the LNT to devise a

> quantitative model which reproduces that data, within statistics. Again as

> an experimentalist I do not feel that it is a prerequisite that I be able

> to explain my data, but that everyone with a theory must take it into

> account.

> Bill Prestwich

> McMaster University

> Hamilton, Ontario

>





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