Cunning Observation: US Agricultural Statistics in the Time of Laissez-Faire
研究了20世纪初美国农业统计局的统计学家如何通过汇总异质性观察数据来观测庞大的农业系统，揭示了统计学家作为“狡猾观察者”的必要性。
What does it mean for a small bunch of civil service statisticians to observe something as huge as the whole American agriculture? What are the eyes that can see this? We answer this question focusing on the actual practice of statistical observation at the beginning of the twentieth century. We show that aggregating heterogeneous pieces of observation is necessary— even though it might seem paradoxical—and it requires the statistician be a very cunning observer.