Over the weekend, I wrote a post showing how SAS can be used to make what appears to be a complex problem quite simple. First of all, am I just being dramatic? Seriously, how can having your variable lengths differ be a disaster? Simple. You are merging by a variable that is a unique user…
Some problems that seem really complex are quite simple when you look at them in the right way. Take this one, for example: My hypothesis is that a major problem in math achievement is persistence. Students just give up at the first sign of trouble. I have three different data sets with student data from the Spirit…
Many years ago, I was walking through the exhibits at the county fair with my late husband (he was alive then, that’s why he was able to walk with me) and I lamented, Look at those quilts. My grandmother makes quilts. Look at those crocheted tablecloths. My other grandmother crochets. Look at me – what do…
Funny how a random sight can jog a memory, like today when I was walking around the neighborhood, taking a break from the marathon push to get our newest game out the door. It was November 11, 1985. I was about eight months pregnant, and about two months into my doctoral program at the University…
Your mileage may vary, your life may vary, but there are a few lessons worth learning . As a public service, I have decided to share with you things I thought I knew but was initially wrong about. Your children don’t actually consider you a person until they are nearly 30 (if ever). Many years…
Let’s get this out right up front – I have no question that there is discrimination in the tech industry. I gave an hour-long talk on this very subject at MIT a couple of weeks ago, where I pointed out that everyone’s first draft of pretty much everything is crap – your first game, first…
I quit keeping track of how much money all the grants I have written totaled, but when we were doing a lot of work together, Dr. Erich Longie had it at $30 million, and it’s been several years and probably another $4- 5 million since then. If you are interested in obtaining grant money, let…
I’m just sitting here in Boston airport waiting to catch the bus to Rhode Island. For some reason, the WordPress app on my iPad doesn’t want to upload the images I downloaded from my phone. This is the sort of thing I would often get upset about. I also have several emails to answer…
Do you really need to document everything? Those who say that there is no such thing as a stupid question might be reconsidering their position right about now. Of course we need to document everything! Perhaps my reluctance stems from my hatred of technical writers. If you are a tech writer and are a decent…
I went to the Western Users of SAS Software conference last week and came home sad. It wasn’t for the reasons you’d guess. No one sexually harassed me (as if!). I did not forget how to code a confirmatory factor analysis in the middle of the pre-conference class I was teaching. The other statisticians didn’t…