ABSTRACT
Sherlock Holmes had it right. Reasoning backward from data to truth is full of traps and pitfalls. Statistics helps us to avoid the traps and to reason correctly. The main points we have tried to make in this book about such reasoning can be summarized briefly as follows:
Recently we were asked to write a mission statement for the SWOG Statistical Center. Here is our view:
We hope that this book has contributed to an understanding of how we conduct ourselves in fulfillment of this mission.
