|
Abstract:
|
Traditionally, statistical reasoning has been considered as a tool to be applied to problems arising in disciplines within the physical, biological, and social sciences. Consequently, statistics courses are taught using examples of applications to and data from fields within these areas. Little time or effort is spent encouraging either students or teachers to look outside these areas for examples of problems where statistical reasoning might contribute to a solution. But disciplines within non-traditional areas, in particular the humanities, can be fertile ground for the application of statistical reasoning. In this paper we will present in a non-technical way three statistical problems that grew out of data contained in the Dead Sea Scroll collection, questions which were motivated by research in Biblical Scholarship for which statistical reasoning might help find an answer.
|
