I will need to present a project to non-statisticians in an upcoming conference and I would like to include a quote that I have read at one point that makes the comparison between statistics and a machine which processes ore. The reason is that I want to emphasize a certain connection between the capabilities of statistics and the goals of the audience.
I cannot find the quote, and was hoping someone would be able to point me to a reference for it. It is something along the following lines:
Consider the case of extracting gold from ore. The expectation of a good gold extraction machine is that it cleanly separates the gold from the ore with no waste. We would not criticize this machine for failing to extract gold if none was originally present in the ore, nor would we judge it too harshly if it failed to extract gold from ore with only minute quantities. Similarly, statistics is a machine which extracts information from the data. Statistics cannot create information, the data must contain that.
I believe the quote is due to Fisher, and that he goes on to note the resemblance between himself and a machine operator. I think the point he makes is that he doesn't need to be particularly brilliant to get good results as long as his statistical machinery is smart.
Any help would be appreciated. Please provide the full quote if possible.
DETAILS ON LOCATION OF QUOTE (added after answer was found):
After following the lead of the selected answer, I found the paper with the quote. It is:
- Fisher, R. A. (1947). Development of the Theory of Experimental Design. Proc. of the Int. Statist. Conf., Washington, 3, 434-439.
It can be found for free here, in the digital archives of Fisher's collected works. It appears to be a conference speech he made in 1947.