Lies, Damned Lies, and Teens Who Smoke While Driving A lack of context is essential to propaganda
Mon, 01/02/2012 - 15:56
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n my February 1996 Quality Digest column I discussed an article out of USA Today. Since that article provides a great example of how we need to filter out the noise whenever we attempt to interpret data, I have updated it for my column today. “… What Is Chunky Data? What happens when the measurement increment gets too large?
Tue, 12/06/2011 - 14:58
Many times measurements are made using measurement increments which are too large for the job. Fortunately this problem is easily detected by ordinary, production-line process behavior charts. No special studies are necessary; no standard parts… Working with Rare Events What happens when the average count gets very small?
Fri, 10/28/2011 - 09:23
From the perspective of data analysis, rare events are problematic. Until we have an event,
there is nothing to count, and as a result many of our time periods will end up with zero counts.
Since zero counts contain no real information, we… What About p-Charts?When should we use the specialty charts for count data?
Fri, 09/30/2011 - 13:26
All charts for count-based data are charts for individual values. Regardless of whether we are working with a count or a rate, we obtain one value per time period and want to plot a point every time we get a value. This is why four specialty… Myths About Process Behavior Charts How to avoid some common obstacles to good practice
Wed, 09/07/2011 - 10:56
The simplicity of the process behavior chart can be deceptive. This is because the simplicity of the charts is based on a completely different concept of data analysis than that which is used for the analysis of experimental data. When someone does… Problems With Skewness and Kurtosis,
Part 2What do the shape statistics do?
Mon, 08/01/2011 - 16:11
In part one we found that the skewness and kurtosis parameters characterize the tails of a probability model rather than the central portion, and that because of this, probability models with the same shape parameters will only be similar in overall… Problems with Skewness and Kurtosis,
Part OneWhat do the shape parameters do?
Fri, 07/29/2011 - 16:30
With the use of statistical software, many individuals are being exposed to more than just measures of location and dispersion. In addition to the average and standard deviation, they often find some funny numbers labeled as skewness and kurtosis.… Problems With Risk Priority NumbersAvoiding more numerical jabberwocky
Mon, 06/27/2011 - 13:18
Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) is an engineering tool that has been heavily adapted for use in Six Sigma programs where it is commonly used to decide which problem to work on. In this usage a risk priority number (RPN) is computed for each… Estimating the Fraction Nonconforming How to know what the data are really telling you
Tue, 05/31/2011 - 12:03
Whenever we present capability indexes the almost inevitable follow-up question is, “What is the fraction nonconforming?” What this question usually means is, “Tell me what these capability indexes mean in terms that I can understand.” These… 100% Inspection and Measurement ErrorHow to handle the problem of misclassified product
Tue, 05/03/2011 - 09:50
One-hundred-percent inspection is commonly used to avoid shipping nonconforming product. Each of the items produced is measured and judged to be either conforming or nonconforming. The conforming items get shipped, and the nonconforming items get…
