A Case Study on the Use of History in Statistics Classes: The Fisher-Neyman Dispute

• Activity Number: 358
• Type: Contributed
• Date/Time: Tuesday, August 6, 2013 : 10:30 AM to 12:20 PM
• Sponsor: Section on Statistical Education
• Author(s): Ilhan Izmirli*+
• Companies: George Mason University

Abstract

In most natural and mathematical sciences, the genetic approach to teaching involves appropriate inclusions of episodes from the history of that particular science within the classroom lectures. It is, of course, up to the teacher to determine which episodes should be chosen and what principles should be followed in transferring the lessons of history to the topic under discussion. Although there have been efforts to do the same for statistics, (Koren (1918), Todhunter (1965), Pearson, (1978)) today such an approach is seldom used in introductory statistics classes. Our goal in this paper is to show that such a methodology befits, in fact, quite naturally to the teaching of basic statistics.

The paper comprises four sections. Following a brief introduction, in the second section we will discuss in general how to use history in statistics classes. In the third section we will use the Fisher-Neyman controversy as a case study and show how the exploration of this renowned dispute would help students get a better grasp of the fundamental concepts of inferential statistics. Our conclusions are given in the fourth and final section.