[Corpora-List] Which Statistical Test is Suitable

[John F. Sowa]

On 7/13/2011 11:17 AM, chris brew wrote:
> I partially agree with Geoffrey Sampson's points. It is certainly true
> that a table of numbers, in isolation, tells you nothing about the
> question you are asking, for the reasons that Professor Sampson gives.
> And statistical tests will not change this situation...

All statistical methods are based on some model about the processes
that generate the data.  And as the statistician George Box observed:

    All models are wrong, but some are useful.

Geoffrey Sampson:
> It is a question about where authority over the norms of the language
> you are concerned with is felt to lie, and what that authority says
> about orthography.

Yes, and those authorities could be authors, dictionaries, or some
official legislation.

CB
> But, if you do manage to set up sufficiently precise hypotheses,
> and associate numbers with the hypotheses, statistical reasoning
> definitely can help.

I agree that statistics can help.  But there are many models for
generating statistics.  Should you give higher weights to typing
mistakes, dictionaries, legislation, or common usage?

John


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