WSS NEWS

News about activities of the Washington Statistical Society
A Chapter of the American Statistical Association

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September 1998

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Contents:

• Congratulations!
• Letter from the President
• 1997-98 Annual Report
• November 15-17, 1999: FCSM Research Conference
• George Mason University Graduate Courses in Statistics Spring 1998
• Letter to the Editor
• Fall LearnSTAT Courses
• SIGSTAT Schedule 1998/1999
• Employment Opportunities
• Short Courses
• Area Meetings and Courses (Adobe Acrobat PDF file)
• Note From The WSS NEWS Editor
• WSS People

Congratulations!

• Dwight B. Brock, National Institute of Aging
  
• Gregory Campbell
  
• Ronald S. Fecso, National Science Foundation
  
• Arthur B. Kennickell, Federal Reserve System
  
• Elizabeth A. Martin, Bureau of Census

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Letter from the President

Statistics and the statistical profession play an important role in many aspects of life in our society. This is reflected in the theme of the recently completed Joint Statistical Meetings in Dallas, Texas, namely, "Statistics: A Guide to Policy." The WSS has been participating in the area of this theme for some time with the creation of our own public policy program committee to complement programs in subjects as diverse as agriculture, computing, demographics, economics, engineering, methodology, public health, and quality assurance. The program chairs listed at the end of the newsletter are responsible for arranging seminars and other programs in these areas of interest. They are receptive to ideas for topics and speakers for the seminar series and welcome your suggestions and participation in these activities.

In addition, the WSS is continuing its outreach to the community in the form of quantitative literacy activities in local school systems and for organizations such as the Girl Scouts. Our volunteers continue to strive to make the appropriate contacts with officials at all levels in Washington area school systems to initiate and maintain programs in which statisticians visit schools to make career day presentations, work with faculty on appropriate statistics curricula, participate in QL workshops for teachers, and provide mentoring for students' science fair projects. Also, our volunteers have continued a longstanding tradition of judging science fair projects to encourage and reward improved statistical content.. Finally, we will continue to stimulate additional participation in statistical projects through the annual Curtis Jacobs Memorial Award to the student project submitted to the competition which best utilizes survey research methods.

Throughout the upcoming program year we will be continuing several initiatives which were recently begun. First, we strongly urge members who have access to e-mail and who have not already done so, to accept the e-mail version of the newsletter, since this not only helps the Society's finances but also provides the member with information in a more timely manner. Secondly, the Board has instituted a process for defending statistics in the press. The need for such a response mechanism has become more and more apparent with the increasing number of articles concerning the 2000 Census in particular. A third initiative, which has implications for the future of the Society, is the development and encouragement of participation in WSS activities by university students. During the 1998-99 program year we will invite a student representative to attend Board meetings on a regular basis, and new emphasis will be placed on planning programs especially suited to students.

I would like to close by congratulating the newly elected members of the Board: Mary Batcher, President-elect; Stuart Scott, Methodology Program Chair; Carolyn Shettle and John Czajka, Members-at-large; and Jill Montaquila, Treasurer. I look forward to their ideas and input in maintaining the vitality of the Society. I also urge each of you to come forward with your ideas, comments and suggestions. Please contact any Board member or me. I can be reached at (301)496-9795 or brockd@gw.nia.nih.gov. By working together, we can take an already vibrant organization to new heights!

Dwight Brock
President, WSS

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1997-98 Annual Report

PROGRAM

The 7th Annual Hansen Memorial Lecture was presented by Norman Bradburn of the National Opinion Research Center and the University of Chicago on "Statistics in the Information Age." Katherine Wallman introduced the speaker and TerriAnn Lowenthal was the discussant.

The Presidential Invited Address was a panel presentation on "Enhancing Communication and Collaboration: Pathways to Improving Federal Statistical Programs." The panelists were Katherine Abraham, Jeanne Griffith, Jay Hakes, Martha Farnsworth Riche, and Katherine Wallman. The discussant was Robert Groves.

The Quantitative Literacy program conducted a number of well-attended workshops for Girl Scouts and also gave a demonstration at a Girl Scout event at the Air and Space Museum. WSS members also assisted teachers in a number of counties. In addition, many WSS members served as judges at regional science fairs.

The WSS Newsletter was distributed to members on a monthly basis, either by regular mail or e-mail. Job announcements were also distributed to members throughout the year.

SOCIAL EVENTS

BOARD ACTIVITIES

The financial position of the Society remains good, and no change of fees is proposed.

AWARDS

The 1998 ASA Chapter Service Recognition Award went to Glenn White, in recognition of many years of outstanding service to the Washington Statistical Society, particularly in the organization of short courses.

WSS Presidents' Awards were presented to Elizabeth Nichols and Carolyn Shettle for dedicated service to the WSS as secretary and treasurer, respectively.

The Curtis Jacobs Memorial Prize was awarded to Rachel Cavanaugh, Erin Legge and Ashley Roseberry of Rocky Run Middle School, Chantilly, VA. Their advisor was Mark Bolt.

The WSS Outstanding Graduate Students Awards went to: Shea Burns, Howard University; Romain D. Parsad, George Mason University; Michael Spaeder, George Washington University; Gang Zheng, George Washington University; Yi Ting Hwang, University of Maryland; and William Bell, JPSM, University of Maryland.

Science Fair Awards were made to 54 Washington area students at five regional science fairs for projects demonstrating excellence in application of statistical methods.

ELECTION RESULTS

• Vice President and President Elect: Mary Batcher
• Representatives-at-Large: Carolyn Shettle, John Czajka
• Methodology Section Chair: Stuart Scott
• Treasurer: Jill Montaquila

NOTE OF APPRECIATION

Graham Kalton
Past President, WSS

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November 15-17, 1999: FCSM Research Conference

To have a paper or demonstration considered for presentation, an abstract of at least one page will be required by December 1, 1998. Submit both a hard copy and an ASCII text file by Internet or on a 3 «" IBM-PC compatible disk. Limit columns to 7" or less. Include the presenter's name, affiliation, mailing address, telephone and fax numbers, and E-mail address, if available. To submit abstracts or obtain additional information, contact:

Ruth Detlefsen
Bureau of the Census Bureau
Room 1182-3
Washington, D.C. 20233

Phone: 301-457-3390
Fax: 301-57-3396
E-mail: fcsm@ccmail.census.gov

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George Mason University Graduate Courses in Statistics Spring 1998

For more information on these courses and programs offered visit our web site at http://www.galaxy.gmu.edu, call (703) 993-3645 or email to compstat@galaxy.gmu.edu.

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Letter to the Editor

Cognition is currently the dominant paradigm in mainstream psychology, but as I note in Cognitive and Survey Methods Research (John Wiley & Sons, forthcoming), neuroscience may be waiting in the wings. My conjecture recently received some support from a statistical examination of the literature assessing the influence and discussing the future of major theoretical trends (Robins, Gosling, & Craik. Psychological science at the crossroads. American Scientist, vol. 86, July-August 1998). Should discoveries and methods of neuroscience come to permeate the discipline which, apart from statistics, provides survey research with its methodological underpinnings, a new "movement" may be in the offing. If so, I hope its pioneer practitioners will follow the lead of their CASM forebears and, with respect to the observance of scientific principles, resist the temptation to become more Catholic than the Pope.

Murray Aborn, National Science Foundation (Retired)

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Fall LearnSTAT Courses

Tuition for both courses is $700 plus the cost of the textbooks. Attendees will receive comprehensive notes, refreshments, and 1.2 Continuing Education Units.

For more information visit the Web site, www.amstat.org/education, or e-mail Sue Kulesher at sue@amstat.org.

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SIGSTAT Schedule 1998/1999

• September 9: S-Plus 4.5
  A demo of the new S-Plus 4.5 by Kim Kok of Mathsoft covering the following topics: modern statistical analysis with revealing graphics; Trellis graphics for gaining insight into your data; automating repetitive tasks with new scripting techniques; and deploying custom data analysis solutions in an organization

• October 14: SPSS
  An overview presentation by Bill Haffey of SPSS showing enhancements to basic products and some newly introduced products. These products include SPSS 8.0; re-engineered output (pivot table technology); interactive graphics; customization features; SamplePower (power analysis/sample size determination); Complex Samples (analysis of non-SRS sample data); and AnswerTree (CHAID and CART algorithms)

• November 11: Proc-StatXact
  A demo of this new SAS PROC from Cytel Software Corp., the developers of StatXact and LogXact for exact statistical inference. Proc-StatXact consists of 11 external SAS procedures which augment the existing small-sample capabilities of SAS.

  The following 6 procedures provide exact inference for continuous data: PROC GOF - Goodness-of-fit testing; PROC ONESAMPL - One-sample testing; PROC PAIRED - Two related sample testing; PROC TWOSAMPL - Two-sample testing; PROC KRELATED - K related sample testing; and PROC KSAMPL - K-sample testing.

  The following 5 procedures provide exact inference for categorical data: PROC BINOMIAL - Binomial inference; PROC STRATIFY - Stratified 2x2 and 2xc contingency tables; PROC RXC - rxc contingency tables; PROC ASSOCIAT - Measures of association; and PROC AGREE - Measures of agreement.

• December 9: PASS
  PASS 6.0 is a windows-based software tool for power analysis and sample size determination. It analyzes a broad range of experimental situations, including t-tests, F-tests, proportions, survival curves, correlations, bioequivalence tests, analysis of variance tests, log rank tests, multiple regression tests, and more. PASS is a product of NCSS.

All SIGSTAT meetings are held in Waugh A, 1800 M St, NW. Directions can be found on the SIGSTAT website, www.econ.ag.gov/sigstat/. Links to the above products are on the SIGSTAT Schedule page. First time attendees should contact Charlie Hallahan, 202-694-5051 or hallahan@econ.ag.gov and leave their name.

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Note From The WSS NEWS Editor

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WSS People

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First posted August 24, 1998
Last modified August 31, 1998

Webmaster: Dan Jacobs, Maryland Sea Grant