Fred, thanks. I'll make a note of your comments. Aydin On Fri, 25 Jan 2008 17:07:17 -0500, Frederick W Schueler <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >* In a case like this, you've got to wonder about subtle changes in the >way the measurements were taken. I've heard the tale told, of a student >of osteometric variation in birds, that when he took his many >measurements on a series of samples of skeletons, and then came back and >remeasured the first sample, there was no univariately significant >difference between any of the measurements, but a discriminant function >correctly identified most (maybe all) of them as being measured as the >first or last sample, showing that he'd somehow changed how the >measurements were judged in the course of measuring the intervening >samples. > >I'd say that "biological significance" can occur only when you're >testing a hypothesis -- otherwise "p" is just a statement of how >different the samples are, and a hint about the kind of hypothesis you >might want to test on other samples or in other ways. > >(I tried to leave this as a comment on the blog, but it didn't seem to >want to take it). > >fred (newly resubscribed to CONCH-L after a lapse of years) >------------------------------------------------------------ > Bishops Mills Natural History Centre > Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad > RR#2 Bishops Mills, Ontario, Canada K0G 1T0 > on the Smiths Falls Limestone Plain 44* 52'N 75* 42'W > (613)258-3107 <bckcdb at istar.ca> http://pinicola.ca >------------------------------------------------------------ >subscribe to the Eastern Ontario Natural History list-serve at >http://mail.thenaturejournal.com/mailman/listinfo/naturelist_thenaturejournal.com >------------------------------------------------------------ > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- >[log in to unmask] - a forum for informal discussions on molluscs >To leave this list, click on the following web link: >http://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=conch-l&A=1 >Type your email address and name in the appropriate box and >click leave the list. >---------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [log in to unmask] - a forum for informal discussions on molluscs To leave this list, click on the following web link: http://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=conch-l&A=1 Type your email address and name in the appropriate box and click leave the list. ----------------------------------------------------------------------