Posted by Kendall Raine on August 13, 2002 at 08:33:12:
In Reply to: Re: Resumes posted by sue on August 12, 2002 at 16:54:01:
Sure, Sue, it's inherently inaccurate to generalize-how's that for a generalization. The same way it's "imprecise" to use a mean or median without a standard deviation.
The point is the quality (knowledge of diving issues) of the person behind the counter in an SC can vary widely, and does. I conclude this on personal experience having been to the dive sections of a half a dozen of them over the last fifteen years. In no event have I ever dealt with the owner of SC. I have been waited on by staff at SC who had no idea what they were talking about and by people there who saw no problem in just making up answers when they didn't know. I'll never go back as a result.
At a dedicated shop, you're more likely to be dealing with the owner or long time employee. As such, the turnover is lower. The owner has his eggs in one basket, so to speak, and a greater motivation to know what he's talking about. It's his shop, his reputation, his investment and his livelihood. When you find an owner or long time employee, as opposed to a "summer intern" from the Camping Department, in whom you have confidence, you can deal with that person effectively for a long time. There's real value in that inasmuch as there is much misinformation in the dive business which, in the end, can compromise your safety and cost you time and money. The reciprocal is true when you identify a shop owner who is a knucklehead-no need to frequent that shop again for any purpose.
So, to me, there is a real advantage to patronizing a dedicated shop.
As for what Tribes was saying, providing the standard deviation doesn't change the mean or the median. It just adds utility to the statistics.