Skip to main content
eScholarship
Open Access Publications from the University of California

Department of Statistics, UCLA

Department of Statistics Papers bannerUCLA

Variability: One Statistician's View

Abstract

Although variability is of fundamental concern and interest to statisticians, often this does not get communicated to students who are taught instead to view variability as a nuisance parameter. A brief survey of a few case studies, as well as a recounting of some history, shows that variability is worthy of study in its own right, and examination of variability leads to insights that might have been missed had we focused all of our attention on the "trend" of the data. As one of the key components of statistical thinking, variability deserves more prominence in the classroom.

Main Content
For improved accessibility of PDF content, download the file to your device.
Current View