[R] R code for to check outliers

R. Michael Weylandt michael.weylandt at gmail.com
Wed Jul 18 18:19:38 CEST 2012


To further what Bert says:

You would almost certainly prefer to use robust statistics than
"outlier detection".

I believe Greg Snow's TeachingDemos package has a data set "outliers"
suggesting some of the perils of doing things the outlier-removal way.

Best,
Michael

On Wed, Jul 18, 2012 at 9:14 AM, Bert Gunter <gunter.berton at gene.com> wrote:
> checkforoutliers <- function(series)NULL
>
> Cheers,
> Bert
>
> *Explanation: There is no such thing as a statistical outlier -- or,
> rather,"outlier" is a fraudulent statistical concept, defined arbitrarily
> and without scientific legitimacy. The typical unstated purpose of such
> identification is to remove contaminating or irrelevant data, but such a
> judgment can only be made by a subject matter expert with knowledge of the
> context and, usually, the specific cause for the unusual data. Do not be
> misled by the large body of statistical literature on this topic into
> believing that statistical analysis alone can provide objective criteria to
> do this. That is a path to scientific purgatory.
>
> For the record:
> 1. I am a statistician
> 2. Lots of highly knowledgeable, smart statisticians will condemn what I
> have just said as stupid ranting.
>
> The perils of a mailing list.
>
> -- Bert
>
> On Wed, Jul 18, 2012 at 6:27 AM, Sajeeka Nanayakkara <nsajeeka at yahoo.com>wrote:
>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>  What is the R code to check whether data series have outliers or not?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Sajeeka Nanayakkara
>>         [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>
>
> --
>
> Bert Gunter
> Genentech Nonclinical Biostatistics
>
> Internal Contact Info:
> Phone: 467-7374
> Website:
> http://pharmadevelopment.roche.com/index/pdb/pdb-functional-groups/pdb-biostatistics/pdb-ncb-home.htm
>
>         [[alternative HTML version deleted]]
>
> ______________________________________________
> R-help at r-project.org mailing list
> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help
> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.



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