Dr. Deming’s aim in this paper is to contribute something to the improvement of statistical practice. He distinguishes between enumerative studies and analytic studies. An enumerative study has for its aim an estimate of the number of units of a frame that belong to a specified class. An analytic study has for its aim a basis for action on the cause-system or the process, in order to improve product of the future. Techniques and methods of inference that are applicable to enumerative studies lead to faulty design and faulty inference for analytic problems. It is possible, in an enumerative problem, to reduce errors of sampling to any specified level. In contrast, in an analytic problem, it is impossible to compute the risk of making a wrong decision. A number of examples clarify the issues.

This seven-page article appeared in The American Statistician, Vol.29, No. 4, 1975, pp. 146-152.

In this paper Dr. Deming continues with some of the practical problems of sampling that are not in the books. He writes on statistics as a basis for action; including the frame, the universe, and environmental conditions; the steps in the design of a study; statistical controls for detection of nonsampling errors; differences between investigators; replicated designs for simplicity in computation of variances; enumerative and analytic studies, contrasted; two kinds of error in an enumerative problem; two kinds of error in an analytic problem; limitations of statistical inference; criticisms of teaching; use of judgment samples; sampling for a rare characteristic; interpreting standards.

This 24 page article was prepared for presentation and criticism for the Princeton Conference on Applied Statistics, sponsored by the Metropolitan Section of the ASQC and the Princeton Biopharmaceutical Subsection of the American Statistical Association. Revised for the National Conference of the Statistical Reporting Service, Washington, 18 February 1975.

Dr. Deming wrote this paper to present a number of principles of training and administration that upset generally accepted conventions, and to point out to management that most of the trouble with faulty product, recalls, high cost of production and service, is chargeable to the system and hence to management. Effort to improve the performance of workers will be a disappointment until the handicap of the system is reduced. Dr. Deming includes sections on Road-Blocks to Quality in America, Loss From Variation, Two Sources of Variation, Thumb-Nail Sketch of the State of Statistical Control, Familiar Consequences of Faults of the System, Some New Principles in Administration, and four examples.

This 15 page article appeared in Interfaces, Vol.5, No. 4 in August, 1975.

Dr. Deming wrote this paper to exhibit some of the consequences of failing to distinguish between the enumerative and analytic uses of data. The paper includes definitions of the enumerative and analytic uses of data, gives examples of each, and makes special reference to the statistical control of quality. He then details the sampling variances for the two types of distributions, and discusses the four possible different variances, acceptance sampling, and consumer’s risk.

This 12 page paper was published in the Journal of the American Statistical Association, Vol. 48, 1953, pp 244-255.