Piotr Wolski

The oldest preserved botanico-medical lexicon in the Polish lands. A report from editorial and philological works. Editorial questions and scientifical problems

This article presents the main issues related to the development and critical edition of the oldest manuscript entirely devoted to the subject of botanical, zoological and pharmaceutical and originating from Poland. Such an issue requires a more detailed discussion and precise presentation to a broad audience not only due to the specific and atypical nature of the research papers, differences in the development of common-use Latin texts and literary texts but also due to its importance for other fields of science: the history of pharmacy and medicine. The article comprises the initial status quaestionis over the manuscript number ms225 – the opus of Jan Stanko, dated 1472, stored away in the Archives of the Krakow Cathedral Chapter. The manuscript has not yet been the subject of a detailed study; some crucial remarks on its subject are included in Józef Rostafiński’s Średniowieczna Historya Naturalna w Polsce, published in Cracow in 1900. By profession, Rostafiński was a botanist, thus his coverage vastly differs from the method in which the text would be analysed by a classical philologist and a book publisher. The article provides preliminary findings on the history of the manuscript, its characteristics and peculiarities, and also raises issues related to the methodology of codicological research facilitating the understanding of the text, including the complexity of the lexis used in the text. Parles the specifics of research on ancient texts that are not Piotr Wolski literary works. The final part of the article illustrates the main objectives: source and linguistic research, the principles of editorial work, as well as further research perspectives.

Statistical significance I

In the present essay, the first in a short cycle, the author reviews and comments on the problems students and researchers have with proper understanding of the basics of statistical inference. Those difficulties seem to be in part due to mixing of the opposing theoretical stances of Fisher and Neyman, reviewed shortly. The author believes that the inconsistent standards of statistical inference afflict the teaching of methodology particularly.
 

Statistical significance II. Interpretive pitfalls

The second of the series of essays on the problems of significance testing in psychological research focuses on inconsistencies of the logic of these tests and resulting problems with interpretation. The limits of their practical usability have been discussed, and reasons of their failure with a priori unlikely null-hypotheses explained. Misleading connotations of the term “statistical significance” have been stressed, that obscure the true meaning of statistical significance and promote bad practices, including overestimation of significance, and neglecting the problem of effect size.
 

Statistical significance III. From ritual to statistical thinking

One of the more prominent problems of significance testing is ritualisation of their practical use and interpretation. In the present, third part of the series, reasons and manifestations of that rigidity have been discussed, and an alternative, sometimes labeled “statistical thinking”, presented. Matching a statistical significance testing scenario to the needs of the specific research program constitutes a part of statistical thinking. Some typical scenarios have been described, with the intent of showing how the same statistical tool, depending on it’s assumptions, can have differing use in research.