Quotes / It Does Not Seem Helpful Just to Say that All Models Are Wrong

1995 Papers / Model Uncertainty, Data Mining and Statistical Inference Perfology / Statistics Topics / Mathematics Topics / Statistics Authors / Chris Chatfield
Model Uncertainty, Data Mining and Statistical Inference

Finally it does not seem helpful just to say that all models are wrong. The very word model implies simplification and idealization. The idea that complex physical, biological or sociological systems can be exactly described by a few formulae is patently absurd. The construction of idealized representations that capture important stable aspects of such systems is, however, a vital part of general scientific analysis and statistical models, especially substantive ones (Cox, 1990), do not seem essentially different from other kinds of model.

(D. R. Cox, Comments)