“A number of statistical assumptions are made in the application of his (Thurstone's) attitude scale e. g. that the scale values of the statements are independent of the attitude distribution of the readers who sort the statements assumptions which as Thurstone points out, cannot always be verified. The method is more over laborious. It seems legitimate to Enquirer whether it actually does its work better than the simple scales which may be employed and the same breath to ask also whether it is not possible to construct equally reliable scales without making unnecessary statistical assumptions.”
Likert, Rensis. "A technique for the measurement of attitudes." Archives of psychology (1932). p. 7
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Rensis Likert 16
American statistician 1903–1981Related quotes
Sir Hermann Bondi, "Review of Cosmology," Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 1948, p. 107-8, as cited in: Hermann Friedmann. Wissenschaft und Symbol, Biederstein, 1949, p. 472
Source: Building Entopia - 1975, Chapter 11, The polis, p. 154

Referring to Jim McLay's comments on the effect of the nuclear ships ban on the exchange of military intelligence with New Zealand's allies.
Source: Gliding on the Lino: The Wit of David Lange, compiled by David Barber, 1987.

Introduction<!-- pp. 3-4 -->
The Idea of Progress: An Inquiry Into Its Origin and Growth (1921)
Context: Science has been advancing without interruption during the last three of four hundred years; every new discovery has led to new problems and new methods of solution, and opened up new fields for exploration. Hitherto men of science have not been compelled to halt, they have always found ways to advance further. But what assurance have we that they will not come up against impassable barriers?... Take biology or astronomy. How can we be sure that some day progress may not come to a dead pause, not because knowledge is exhausted, but because our resources for investigation are exhausted... It is an assumption, which cannot be verified, that we shall not reach a point in our knowledge of nature beyond which the human intellect is unqualified to pass.
Robert Grosseteste and the Origins of Experimental Science 1100-1700 (1953)

p, 125
Other writings, The Paradoxes of Legal Science (1928)

“"Legacy code" often differs from its suggested alternative by actually working and scaling.”
Bjarne Stroustrup's FAQ: What is "legacy code"?, 2007-11-15 http://www.stroustrup.com/bs_faq.html#legacy,