Dr. Deming published more than 170 articles over his lifetime, wrote numerous unpublished papers for students and clients, and conducted hundreds of studies. These and other writings are in the National Archives in The Library of Congress (LOC) in Washington, DC. Access to the collection is restricted and controlled by the LOC – please contact them for permission to view the archive.

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On the Presentation of the Results of Sample Surveys as Legal Evidence (1954)
On the Problem of Matching Lists by Samples (1959)
On the Sampling of Physical Materials (1950)
On the Simplifications of Sampling Design through Replication with Equal Probabilities and without Stages (1956)
On The Statistician’s Contribution to Quality (1987)

Dr. Deming highlights six issues in this paper: (1) the need for quality, as exhibited by increasing deficit in trade in the U. S., (2) bad practices of management, (3) failure of management to accept responsibility for quality, (4) changes required in the teaching of statistics, (5) enumerative and analytic studies, and (6) differences between use of complete count in a study and a sample less than 100%, and who is responsible for making decisions of different types in such a study

This fifteen page paper was delivered at the meeting of the International Statistical Institute in Tokyo 8-11 September 1987.

On the Teaching of Statistical Principles and Techniques to People in Industry (1954)

In this paper, Dr. Deming aimed to set forth a few points on the teaching of statistical principles and techniques to people in industry at four levels: Management, Statistical Administration, Research, and Workers in the Manufacturing Plant. Each of these four groups has an important, but different, role in industry. Management needs to know the principles of statistics and to have an appreciation for the uses of statistical techniques. The statistical administrator must have a keen perception of statistical problems, some knowledge of the techniques themselves; an intimate knowledge of the problems that confront the management and the ability to put statistical techniques to work to solve these problems. Research people need to possess penetrating knowledge, skill in the techniques, and originality to develop new theory where required. Production people need to understand simple techniques like control charts and sampling. Dr. Deming elaborated on each of these recommendations in this work.

This 24 page article appeared in the Bulletin of the International Statistical Institute, Tome xxxiv – 2nd Part, 1954. He had presented this work at a conference of the Institute in Rome in September 1953.

On the Use of Judgment-Samples (1976)

Dr. Deming’s aim in this article is to try to answer some of the questions that statisticians and others have been asking for years about judgment-samples: (1) What type of problem requires, for best efficiency, use of a judgment-sample of blocks, clinics, hospitals, machines? (2) What is the best allocation of the sample? Sections focus on: enumerative and analytic studies, contrasted; two kinds of error in an enumerative problem; what we need in an analytic problem; two kinds of error in an analytic problem; limitations of statistical inference; use of judgment-samples; importance of design of experiment.

This six-page article appeared in Statistical Applications of Research (Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers, Tokyo) vol. 23, 1976, pp 25-31. It was delivered at the Institute of Statistical Mathematics, Tokyo, Nov. 1975.

On the Use of Sampling in Management and Research (1963)

The purpose of this article is to bring to the attention of experts and practitioners some neglected points concerning the way in which statistical methods are being used in many fields. The ultimate aim is to loosen up some of the roadblocks that seem to stand in the way of proper use of modern statistical techniques. Dr. Deming focused on the purpose of sampling, sampling as cooperative work between the subject-matter expert and the statistician, the statement that “our problems are different”, some everyday uses of sampling, the eight parts of a sampling plan, and some misconceptions about sampling.

This 14-page article appeared in the Interstate Commerce Commission Practitioners’ Journal, Vol. XXXI, Nov. 1963.

On the Use of Theory (1956)

The theme of this paper is the source of power of statistical theory, how to use it in industry and in research, and more especially, how not to misuse it. Dr. Deming discusses the value-judgments in the management of business, and the perception of the social, political, and economic problems that a business encounters in the achievement of these aims. He talks about judicious choice of problems and clever separation of the responsibilities for solving them.

This paper is an address delivered by Dr. Deming upon receipt of the Shewhart Medal at the 10th annual meeting of the American Society for Quality Control, Montreal, 7 June 1956. It was published as a three-page article in Industrial Quality Control, Vol XIII, No. 1, July 1956.

On Trends in the Diagnosis of Schizophrenia (1974)

This study is part of the work of the U.S.-U.K. Cross-National Study of Diagnosis of the Mental Disorders. Reexamination of hospital diagnoses made in 1932-1941 and 1947-1957 by American-trained psychiatrists and a British-trained psychiatrist reveal differences that the authors attribute to inconsistent diagnostic criteria over time. The authors believe there may have been a decrease in the number of “hard-core” schizophrenics while the number of “ambiguous” schizophrenics increased, inviting more diagnoses of schizophrenia by those with a broader concept of schizophrenia.

This six-page article was co-authored by Judith B. Kuriansky, W. Edwards Deming, and Barry J. Gurland, and presented at the 126th annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association, Honolulu, Hawaii, May 7-11, 1973. It was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry 131:4, April 1974. Ms. Kuriansky and Dr. Gurland were with Biometrics Research, New York State Department of Mental Hygiene and the Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University.

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