A jack knife is a pocket knife that is put to many tasks, because it's ready to hand. Often there could be a better tool for the job, such as a screwdriver, a scraper, or a can-opener, but these are not usually pocket items. In statistical terms, the expression implies making do with what's available. Another simile, of an extreme situation, is…

This article describes a simple way to explain the limitations of statistics to scientists and students to avoid the publication of misleading conclusions. Biologists examine their results extremely critically and carefully choose the appropriate analytic methods depending on their scientific objectives. However, no such close attention is usually…