Update: Check out my koan page.
I've been thinking about using a literacy device known as a
koan to illustrate important statistical
issues. A koan is a story used in Buddhist teaching that involves a seemingly meaningless or
contradictory statement. Careful contemplation of this statement leads you to a more fuller
understanding of Buddhist teaching. Often these stories end with a student reaching a state
of greater enlightenment, so might be related to the concept of experiencing an
epiphany. Here's an example:
Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university
professor who came to inquire about Zen. Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor's cup
full, and then kept on pouring. The professor watched the overflow until he no longer
could restrain himself. "It is overfull. No more will go in!" "Like this cup," Nan-in
said, "you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless
you first empty your cup?" as quoted on the Zen Koans page,
www.ashidakim.com/zenkoans/1acupoftea.html
Although koans have an overt link to religion, they have been used by others to illustrate
difficult non-religious issues.
In the days when Sussman was a novice Minsky once came to him as he sat hacking at
the PDP-6. "What are you doing?", asked Minsky. "I am training a randomly wired neural
net to play Tic-Tac-Toe." "Why is the net wired randomly?", asked Minsky. "I do not want
it to have any preconceptions of how to play." Minsky shut his eyes. "Why do you close
your eyes?", Sussman asked his teacher. "So the room will be empty." At that moment,
Sussman was enlightened. as quoted on the Artificial Intelligence Koans page,
www.serve.com/cmtan/buddhism/Lighter/aikoans.html
Some other examples of non-religious koans appear at
The Rootless Root, the Unix Koans of
Master Foo, by Eric Steven Raymond.
Could I use the same device to teach Statistics? Probably not, but I'll try anyway. So
here is the first ever statistical koan:
Master Stem was teaching the class about the perils of observational data when
Student Leaf interrupted. "Master Leaf," the student inquired, "You have
taught us that randomized studies are the only true path to knowledge. So why do you now
teach us about observational studies?"
Master Stem replied, "Have I been so certain about the true validity of research
that uses randomization?"
Student Leaf replied, "Yes, Master Stem. You taught us that randomized studies
assure us of a fair and unbiased comparison that cannot be achieved without
randomization. By invoking the law of large numbers, you have shown that only randomized
studies prevent bias from unknown and unmeasured covariates."
Then Master Stem replied, "Very good, Student Leaf. And this knowledge about the
superiority of randomized studies, did it itself emerge from a randomized study?"
If I get inspired I may write a few more statistical koans. What I am hoping is to find a
good koan that illustrates the logical flaws of traditional hypothesis testing. If I am
successful it will lead to my first Bayesian epiphany.
