To call in the statistician after the experiment is done may be no more than asking him to perform a post-mortem examination: he may be able to say what the experiment died of.
Meaning of the quote
The quote means that asking a statistician to analyze the results of an experiment after it's already finished is like asking a doctor to perform an autopsy - they can only tell you what went wrong, not how to prevent it from happening again. It's better to involve the statistician from the beginning, so they can help design the experiment and identify potential issues before they occur.
About Ronald Fisher
Ronald Fisher was a brilliant British polymath who made groundbreaking contributions to statistics, genetics, and evolutionary biology. Considered the ‘greatest statistician of all time’, his work laid the foundations for modern statistical science and helped revive Darwinism through the integration of Mendelian genetics and natural selection.
More quotes from Ronald Fisher
The analysis of variance is not a mathematical theorem, but rather a convenient method of arranging the arithmetic.
British statistician, evolutionary biologist and geneticist (1890-1962)
Natural selection is a mechanism for generating an exceedingly high degree of improbability.
British statistician, evolutionary biologist and geneticist (1890-1962)
We have the duty of formulating, of summarizing, and of communicating our conclusions, in intelligible form, in recognition of the right of other free minds to utilize them in making their own decisions.
British statistician, evolutionary biologist and geneticist (1890-1962)
In scientific subjects, the natural remedy for dogmatism has been found in research.
British statistician, evolutionary biologist and geneticist (1890-1962)
To consult the statistician after an experiment is finished is often merely to ask him to conduct a post mortem examination. He can perhaps say what the experiment died of.
British statistician, evolutionary biologist and geneticist (1890-1962)
To call in the statistician after the experiment is done may be no more than asking him to perform a post-mortem examination: he may be able to say what the experiment died of.
British statistician, evolutionary biologist and geneticist (1890-1962)
Natural selection is not evolution.
British statistician, evolutionary biologist and geneticist (1890-1962)
I believe sanity and realism can be restored to the teaching of Mathematical Statistics most easily and directly by entrusting such teaching largely to men and women who have had personal experience of research in the Natural Sciences.
British statistician, evolutionary biologist and geneticist (1890-1962)
The tendency of modern scientific teaching is to neglect the great books, to lay far too much stress upon relatively unimportant modern work, and to present masses of detail of doubtful truth and questionable weight in such a way as to obscure principles.
British statistician, evolutionary biologist and geneticist (1890-1962)