Some Remarks on Wild Observations

Abstract

Editor's Note: At the 1959 meetings of the American Statistical Association held in Washington D. C., Messrs. F. J. Anscombe and C. Daniel presented papers on the detection and rejection of 'outliers', that is, observations thought to be maverick or unusual. These papers and their discussion will appear in the next issue of Technometrics. The following comments of Dr. Kruskal are another indication of the present interest of statisticians in this important problem. The purpose of these remarks is to set down some non-technical thoughts on apparently wild or outlying observations. These thoughts are by no means novel, but do not seem to have been gathered in one convenient place. 1. Whatever use is or is not made of apparently wild observations in a statistical analysis, it is very important to say something about such observations in any but the most summary report. At least a statement of how many observa