[pracjourn-forum] A weird error (and broader issues)

[Peter Flom]

Peter Flynn wrote
<<<
This is very valuable. I like to think of it in a similar way to what 
happened to me when I strayed into the processing of drug use surveys 
many moons ago...I understood the idea behind it, but it took me a long

time to fathom why I was getting percentages like 65535E+72 until 
someone explained that dividing a cell by a zero number of users was
not
productive :-) and I never did grok the difference between cluster 
analysis and factorial analysis...and yet everyone around me was going
"O, just do this...and this...and pick a value..and it just works!"
>>>

Now you're getting into a field where I actually know something....I
work at a place that does research into illicit drug use, and while my
title is really long, essentially, I am a 'stats geek'.

BTW, in case you're interested, cluster analysis is a way of seeing how
subjects (usually people) go together; factor analysis is a way of
seeing how variables go together.

Peter Flom

Peter L. Flom, PhD
Assistant Director, Statistics and Data Analysis Core
Center for Drug Use and HIV Research
National Development and Research Institutes
71 W. 23rd St
www.peterflom.com
New York, NY 10010
(212) 845-4485 (voice)
(917) 438-0894 (fax)