HL Deb 22 November 1972 vol 336 cc954-6

2.42 p.m.

LORD BROOKE OF CUMNOR

My Lords, on behalf of my noble friend Lord Conesford, who unfortunately is down with 'flu, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in his name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have studied Home Office Research Studies No. 15; and what meaning they attach to the expression "randomisation of subjects" in line 1 of the Introduction.

THE MINISTER OF STATE, HOME OFFICE (VISCOUNT COLVILLE OF CULROSS)

My Lords, the phrase "randomisation of subjects" in the first sentence of the Introduction has the same meaning as "random allocation", which occurs in the next sentence and elsewhere in the report. The concept is that, to test the relative effectiveness of different forms of treatment, subjects are assigned to one form or another randomly and the results assessed. The research project upon which The Controlled Trial in Institutional Research is a commentary was conducted at Kingswood Training School, an approved school for boys. Boys who were assessed as being suitable for an experimental house, which set out to provide a therapeutic community, were randomly allocated either to that house or to a house with a more orthodox approach.

LORD BROOKE OF CUMNOR

My Lords, may I, on behalf of my noble friend, thank the Minister for that Answer, which I am sure will assist Lord Conesford in his convalescence.

LORD MAYBRAY-KING

My Lords, is the noble Viscount aware that the noble Lord, Lord Conesford, by his "interrot,xisation" has rendered a service to the House?

LORD WYNNE-JONES

My Lords, has the noble Viscount, in finding out the meaning of this word, consulted the Random House Dictionary, which is probably most used in the United States? If he does, he will find that there is no such word as "randomisation". It would be interesting if the noble Viscount could say where he managed to get his interpretation of a word which apparently does not exist.

VISCOUNT COLVILLE OF CULROSS

My Lords, I am to a certain extent a newcomer to the world of statistics, and I have not looked at that book. I draw on the immortal words of the research team for the Roskill Commission in the sentence that I enjoyed most: The multiple correlation coefficients obtained varied from 0.49 to 0.61 but because of the high cross-correlation between the explanatory variables these coefficients were of doubtful significance. I do not know precisely what is the meaning of any of those words; all I know is that we understood, in the end, what the Commission were talking about.

LORD WYNNE-JONES

My Lords, surely the noble Viscount is well aware that each one of those words occurs in the dictionary, whereas the word referred to here does not occur in any reputable dictionary. Perhaps the noble Viscount would also explain why it is the subjects who are "randomised" and not the houses?

VISCOUNT COLVILLE OF CULROSS

My Lords, to answer that question I think I have to go back to the celebrated phrase "the defenestration of Prague", where in fact it was not the town that was thrown out of the window.

LORD KENNET

My Lords, when the noble Viscount said in his Answer that certain things were done randomly, what did he mean by that? Did he mean at random? If so, is it the custom in this educational institution to ask the boys to stand not at ease but easily?

VISCOUNT COLVILLE OF CULROSS

Yes, my Lords, and no; and anyway this particular experiment is now stopped.

LORD BURNTWOOD

My Lords, did not William Shakespeare himself always invent words where he thought it might be mellifluous so to do, and may not such questions as this have been considered by him to an incarnadine nuisance?

VISCOUNT COLVILLE OF CULROSS

My Lords, I have no doubt that the Home Office Research Unit will now be encouraged to go forward with further experiments.