Technometrics

ISSN: 0040-1706 (Print) 1537-2723 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/utch20

Statistics and Data Analysis in Geology

R. H. Shumway

To cite this article: R. H. Shumway (1987) Statistics and Data Analysis in Geology,
Technometrics, 29:4, 492-492

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/00401706.1987.10488290

Published online: 23 Mar 2012.

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492 BOOK
obvious that the authors did not do a good job of proofreading.
For example, in the appendix, the page numbers referring to the
formulas used in the main text are all incorrect.
2. The quality of charts used for illustration and the quality of
typesetting, especially for formulas, is poor. Books published by the
American Society for Quality Control certainly deserve a better
quality.
Despite the preceding two points, I recommend this book for
self-study by a reader who wants to know the basic concepts of
SPC but cannot afford the time to attend an SPC training course.
Thomas C. Hsinny
Universal Foods Corporation
Quality Control for Profit (2nd ed.), by Ronald H.
Lester, Norbert L. Enrick, and Harry E. Mottley, Jr.,
New York: Marcel Dekker, 1985,xi + 475 pp., $65.00.
This book is a good introduction to many of the concepts and
activities of a quality control system. It contains many excellent
examples and practical ideas. The book presents a quality system
that is heavily inspection oriented. Quality improvement through
processdesign and quality management is deemphasized.
The book has 3 1 chapters, which are divided into 4 sections.Part
I contains I1 chapters under the general heading “Basic Program
for Quality Control.” This section describes how to set up an
inspection-oriented quality control function in a manufacturing
plant. There are even suggested organizational charts and job
descriptions in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 presents basic quality control
concepts from a systems perspective. Chapters 3-l 1 consider flow
charts, some control-chart concepts,feedback systems,specification
reviews, process capability, quality documentation, project quality
planning, and other useful topics.
Part II (Chaps. 12-15) has clear, practical discussions on materi-
als control, vendor rating systems, gauge control, and sampling
systemson a production line.
Part III (Chaps. 1623) contains a fairly detailed discussion on
quality cost management and methods. This is clearly the forte of at
least one of the authors. There is also some good advice on using
inspection data to improve production processesand a nuts-and-
bolts presentation on the design review process.Chapter 18 stresses
the importance of statistically designed experiments in product
improvement, but does not present any information on how to
design such experiments. The reader is referred to two other books
on this subject.
The final section of the book (Chaps. 24-31) is a potpourri of
quality topics. Included are automated data processing, reliability
concepts and terminology, financial and administrative appli-
cations of statistical process control, critical path analysis, quality
circles, simulation, and robotics. The presentations are brief but
generally well written.
Chapter 25 presents some of the basic statistical concepts of
quality control, but the topic is inadequately developed for a book
on quality control. For example, there is no mention of rational
subgroups or of random versus assignable causes of variation.
Expanded discussion on how to read control-chart patterns is
needed.Attribute control charts are covered in only two pages.
This book would be useful to someone interested in developing
an inspection-oriented quality program. The many examples and
practical advice make it a handy guide and reference.But there is
virtually no consideration of current trends deemphasizing inspec-
tion in favor of designing in quality. There are no referencesto the
works or philosophies of Deming, Juran, Crosby, Feigenbaum, or
Ishikawa. This is a serious drawback. The book is a suitable refer-
ence for some parts of a quality program, but it would be a mistake
TECHNOMETRICS, NOVEMBER 1987, VOL. 29, NO. 4
REVIEWS
to use it as a basis for a company’s overall quality improvement
process.
Robert H. Lochner
W. A. Golomski & Associates
and Data Analysis in Geology (2nd ed.), by
Statistics
John C. Davis, New York: John Wiley, 1986, 646 pp..
$38.95.
In the fields of geology, geophysics, and seismology, there are
often a bewildering array of mathematical and statistical techniques
to choose from when attempting to make senseout of any given set
of experimental data. The lack of well-defined, explicit models for
many of the phenomena observed in these areasmeans that empiri-
cal procedures predominate and that there are usually several
choices for plausible statistical approaches to analyzing the prob-
lem. A book that explains in simple language the available method-
ology is a useful addition to the literature. As the author states,
“This book is about quantitative methods of analysis of geologic
data.. The orientation is methodological, or ‘how to do it’.
Theory is not emphasized.. .”
The selection of topics covered is very broad, beginning with
introductory chapters on statistics and matrix algebra and continu-
ing with the following:
Chapter 4--“Analysis of Sequences of Data”: interpolation,
Markov chains, seriesof events,runs tests,least squaresand regres-
sion, splines, segmenting sequences, autocorrelation, cross-
correlation, cross-association, semivariograms, spectral analysis,
filters, and substitutability analysis
Chapter 5--“Map Analysis”: geologic maps, search patterns,
distribution of points, lines, analysis of directional data, spherical
distributions, shape, contouring, moving averages, Kriging, trend
surfaces,double Fourier series,and comparing maps
Chapter VAnalysis of Multivatiate Data”: multiple regres-
sion, discriminant functions, equality of vector means and covari-
antes, cluster analysis, eigenvector methods, principal components,
factor analysis, principal-coordinates analysis, correspondence
analysis, R- and Q-mode factor analysis, multigroup discriminant
functions, and canonical correlation.
These latter chapters constitute the really interesting part of the
book. The author illustrates each concept or technique with a
well-chosen example, and there are many useful data sets provided
for the reader. Although the presentation is “cookbook style” and
abbreviated, there are detailed referenceslisted for each technique. I
especially appreciated the annotations provided for many of the
references.The lack of problems, however, means that it would be
somewhat difficult to use this book as a textbook for a course.
A small package of elementary programs called STAT is provid-
ed on a floppy disk that will run on IBM-compatible micro-
computers. Included in this package are some descriptive statistics,
linear regression, one- and two-way analysis of variance and a
collection of matrix operations including addition, multiplication,
transposition, inversion, and computation of eigenvalues and vec-
tors of a real symmetric matrix. A more extensive library called
TERRASTAT is sold as an additional option.
To summarize, I would say that although the statistical chapter
is at times inaccurate and oversimplified, the book as a whole is
well written and informative. It would be a useful addition to the
library of the statistician who consults occasionally for research
workers in the geophysical sciences.
R. H. Shumway
Unioersity of CaliJomia. Davis