Back again

According to the archives, I haven't posted anything in several months. In those months I ...

• Developed and taught a course in Statistics (ouch)
• Presented a paper at the ASA meeting
• Interviewed for a job (still waiting for an offer)
• Drafted several papers (none are ready for review)
• Worked on various projects here at work.

I met some nice people and hope to link to their blogs at some point. [I really need to figure out how to use that blogroll thing.

In the comming months I endeavor to post more frequently, perhaps commenting on the op-ed pages of my local newspaper. We'll see.

/Corey

My local media hits a new low

Ok, let me get this straight. Elmira, New York has a newstory of national (well, maybe regional) interest. A convicted child killer is being released. Do they cover his story? Of course not, they cover the reporters from New York City who are covering his story. egads. And to think the author led the story about the story with a crack about the New York City Media missing their expensive coffee beverages.

Sometimes I'm happy to no longer live in New York's southern tier.

I did a presentation of my Dissertation research last Friday at work. The audience was polite (only a few went to sleep) and the Q/A period after was tame. But I received one question that I could neither answer, nor comfortably dodge: "This is a fabulous description, now how about a prescription?"

To backtrack, my research focuses on the professional workers who staff a drug court program. My analysis focuses on their treatment efforts (essentially how they bridge inflexible institutions) and their control efforts (how they ensure that defendants maintain the law). My analysis gravitates to the theoretical, suggesting that the drug courts constitute a new form of Panopticonism [a surveillance oriented mode of social control] without providing any real recommendations.

Is this responsible? Or, should I identify recommendations for practictioners?

Right now I don't know the answer to that question. On one hand, I may think that the entire enterprise is bankrupt and accordingly should be dumped. On the other, some thousand programs now operate and my state is looking for ways of adding more. That is, these programs will persist. Is there nothing constructive that I can throw into the arena?

I'll stop with this post for now and write more at a later time. I want to try and sort through these ideas in a responsible way. Thus, it will be published in the blog for all my readers to consider [all 1 of you].

Cheers,

/CoReY

I have to select a Statistics text for my fall class. Though I’ve previewed no less than 10 books, I can’t find one that I like. These books [qualifier, introductory books written for social science students] seem to fall into one of two general classes:

(a) Cutesy, cuddly, “friendly” books designed to coddle the math-phobic and hold their hand. These books are long on words without really explaining much. They use minimal formula and are limited in the scope of techniques.

(b) Assertive, thorough, but badly written books, that cover sufficient ground, but I highly doubt that my students will be able to follow the inelegant prose.*

So, I have to decide what to do by the end of the month. Initially, I hoped to find a decent technical book [one in category b, but with decent writing] coupled with a handy little paper back titled, The Elementary Forms of Statistical Reason.
Unfortunately, that book appears to be out of print.

Now, I’m thinking of supplementing a text from group b with Gonick & Smith’s Cartoon Guide to Statistics. Though not as a useful as the Elementary Forms, I think this book will be a sufficient (and inexpensive) clarity tool. I will offer updates as they become relevant.


* Yes, I am fully aware that this statement may be construed as throwing stones in a glass house; but I am not a textbook author.

I have to select a Statistics text for my fall class. Though I’ve previewed no less than 10 books, I can’t find one that I like. These books [qualifier, introductory books written for social science students] seem to fall into one of two general classes:

(a) Cutesy, cuddly, “friendly” books designed to coddle the math-phobic and hold their hand. These books are long on words without really explaining much. They use minimal formula and are limited in the scope of techniques.

(b) Assertive, thorough, but badly written books, that cover sufficient ground, but I highly doubt that my students will be able to follow the inelegant prose.*

So, I have to decide what to do by the end of the month. Initially, I hoped to find a decent technical book [one in category b, but with decent writing] coupled with a handy little paper back titled, The Elementary Forms of Statistical Reason.
Unfortunately, that book appears to be out of print.

Now, I’m thinking of supplementing a text from group b with Gonick & Smith’s Cartoon Guide to Statistics. Though not as a useful as the Elementary Forms, I think this book will be a sufficient (and inexpensive) clarity tool. I will offer updates as they become relevant.


* Yes, I am fully aware that this statement may be construed as throwing stones in a glass house; but I am not a textbook author.

I have to select a Statistics text for my fall class. Though I’ve previewed no less than 10 books, I can’t find one that I like. These books [qualifier, introductory books written for social science students] seem to fall into one of two general classes:

(a) Cutesy, cuddly, “friendly” books designed to coddle the math-phobic and hold their hand. These books are long on words without really explaining much. They use minimal formula and are limited in the scope of techniques.

(b) Assertive, thorough, but badly written books, that cover sufficient ground, but I highly doubt that my students will be able to follow the inelegant prose.*

So, I have to decide what to do by the end of the month. Initially, I hoped to find a decent technical book [one in category b, but with decent writing] coupled with a handy little paper back titled, The Elementary Forms of Statistical Reason.
Unfortunately, that book appears to be out of print.

Now, I’m thinking of supplementing a text from group b with Gonick & Smith’s Cartoon Guide to Statistics. Though not as a useful as the Elementary Forms, I think this book will be a sufficient (and inexpensive) clarity tool. I will offer updates as they become relevant.


* Yes, I am fully aware that this statement may be construed as throwing stones in a glass house; but I am not a textbook author.

I have to select a Statistics text for my fall class. Though I’ve previewed no less than 10 books, I can’t find one that I like. These books [qualifier, introductory books written for social science students] seem to fall into one of two general classes:

(a) Cutesy, cuddly, “friendly” books designed to coddle the math-phobic and hold their hand. These books are long on words without really explaining much. They use minimal formula and are limited in the scope of techniques.

(b) Assertive, thorough, but badly written books, that cover sufficient ground, but I highly doubt that my students will be able to follow the inelegant prose.*

So, I have to decide what to do by the end of the month. Initially, I hoped to find a decent technical book [one in category b, but with decent writing] coupled with a handy little paper back titled, The Elementary Forms of Statistical Reason.
Unfortunately, that book appears to be out of print.

Now, I’m thinking of supplementing a text from group b with Gonick & Smith’s Cartoon Guide to Statistics. Though not as a useful as the Elementary Forms, I think this book will be a sufficient (and inexpensive) clarity tool. I will offer updates as they become relevant.


* Yes, I am fully aware that this statement may be construed as throwing stones in a glass house; but I am not a textbook author.

I have to select a Statistics text for my fall class. Though I’ve previewed no less than 10 books, I can’t find one that I like. These books [qualifier, introductory books written for social science students] seem to fall into one of two general classes:

(a) Cutesy, cuddly, “friendly” books designed to coddle the math-phobic and hold their hand. These books are long on words without really explaining much. They use minimal formula and are limited in the scope of techniques.

(b) Assertive, thorough, but badly written books, that cover sufficient ground, but I highly doubt that my students will be able to follow the inelegant prose.*

So, I have to decide what to do by the end of the month. Initially, I hoped to find a decent technical book [one in category b, but with decent writing] coupled with a handy little paper back titled, The Elementary Forms of Statistical Reason.
Unfortunately, that book appears to be out of print.

Now, I’m thinking of supplementing a text from group b with Gonick & Smith’s Cartoon Guide to Statistics. Though not as a useful as the Elementary Forms, I think this book will be a sufficient (and inexpensive) clarity tool. I will offer updates as they become relevant.


* Yes, I am fully aware that this statement may be construed as throwing stones in a glass house; but I am not a textbook author.

Hey, I'm back.

(in a probably misguided effort) I am committing myself to writing more on the blog. I'm finding myself reading more blogs [if I can figure out how to link to them, I will] and even registered with a free RSS aggregator service this morning to maximize my blog reading efficiency. (Never before has procrastination been so efficient).

Here are some of the updates I will probably write about sometime soon

• I finished my PhD.
  
• I am writing a paper about jail and drug courts (hopefully for the Journal Social Problems)
  
• We are working on a research project on Confidentiality and Statistical Disclosure; I get to help write a survey.
  
• Other assorted odds and ends
  

I was interrupted 4 times while writing the above. No wonder I get little done.

I promise more to come.

It's time for an update. I spent the last several moths revising my dissertation (which still is mediocre at best). But its mediocre enough to defend. I leave one week from today for Salt City for my defense. Hopefully it will go okay.