Statistical Methods

Sooner or later every graduate student has to take the dreaded Statistical Methods. Many put it off until the end of their program and, I suppose, many never finish their program because they are afraid to take the class. Sometimes advisors suggest taking it early to see if you are up to snuff for the program or just so you have it out of the way and don’t have to worry about it. My advisor suggested I take it early I hope for the latter reason.

I had talked to many graduate students who had audited the class the first time they took it. We met one lady who had audited it four times. At stake was being able to stay in the program. Getting a “C” or below probably meant you would not get to complete the graduate program.

Larry McNabb, John Roederer, and I enrolled in the class in January of 1982. Our theory was that if we took it together and studied together we could get through. 1982 was a snowy winter and we missed the first class because the roads to Iowa City were drifted shut. The second Saturday morning we had the same problem. We were pretty discouraged! John dropped out because he thought we would be to far behind to catch up.

The third Saturday was a nice clear day. Larry and I drove to Iowa and walked all over the campus looking for the class with no success. At that point I was ready to drop out. Larry called the instructor during the week and explained our dilemma. I called him, too, and he encouraged both of us to continue in the class even though we had now missed three full morning sessions. The instructors name was H. D. Hoover and he was head of Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, an internationally famous man in the world of statistics and assessment.

So, we joined the class for the 4th session. Hoover was an extraordinary teacher! He was careful in his explanations and a great storyteller. Sometimes his stories were so engaging that is was easy to lose the statistic principal he was trying to illustrate with the story. I studied harder for this course than any I had taken before. I was determined to figure out the mysteries of statistics and sometimes read the assigned chapters in the book five or six times. I did every sample problem I could get my hands on.

Two more weeks into the class and we had our first test. It was tough. We were given a short break in the middle to go to the restroom and get a drink. There were many complaints about it in the restroom even though we weren’t supposed to talk about it. I went home feeling like I had done well on it but wasn’t sure.

We got the test back at the next class. I got an “A” and had the second highest score in the class. I was thrilled. Larry was down the list a ways with a “B” and a little disappointed. We went over the test in class and I was selected to explain how I got two of the problems correct since I was the only one in the group that did. I was honored and empowered! I was convinced I could handle this graduate college stuff!

I continued to do well even when the course got tougher. I scored well on the second and final tests and ended up with a “B” for the course. I was on my way!