Statistics Meeting Book (August 16, 2017)

AOAC INTERNATIONAL Committee on Statistics (Terms of Reference Comments) July 7, 2017

Name

Section

Sub-Section

Line Number(s)

Type of Comment General Comment(s)

Proposed Change by Submitter

Comment(s) - Justification for change

1 Mike Zapf

II. Committee

a. Composition

13-33

under comments

I have benefited from Paul & Qian's comments, and see there points to favor their consideration. I am surprised that the committee might be 18 rather than 12, it seems a little large and suggest it might consist of 9 full members + 3 associates, "in training". I think at 18 there could be a lot of disinterested bystanders who become bored as the amount of tasks in StatCom to disperse is small.

2 Hilde Skår Norli

II. Committee

a. Composition

13

Editorial

The committee shall be comprised of a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 18 members, including Chair, of which a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 9 are voting (Full Members) … The President of AOAC on the recommendation of the OMB shall appoint all members to the Committee (Full and Associate) for a three-year, with no maximum term limitation. The chair is initially appointed for one three-year term and may serve one additional three-year term if reappointment is approved with rationale by OMB and the President of AOAC.

Some periods there might be difficult getting 9 voting members, and hence there might be difficult to make decisions. The minimum number is in line with the current ToR.

3 Hilde Skår Norli

II. Committee

a. Composition

15-22

Editorial

Recommend to keep the current wording that there is no maximum term limitation. Volunteers in AOAC stay for longer than 6 years, and their experience is needed. It is harder and harder to get volunteers, so if someone is willing to stay on for a longer period and do an excellent job, it would be foolish to not use his/hers expertise. To delete the starting/ending of the term give flexibility - there might be that a new expert is needed between the business meetings.

4 Sidney Sudberg II. Committee

a. Composition

17, 18, 19

Editorial

All Members may serve a maximum of two consecutive three-year terms as a Full Member, after which they could choose to continue to serve as an Associate Member. The Chair, at its pleasure, can suggest removal of non-participating members if removal is approved with rationale by the Official Methods Board.

To disrupt the committee's activities by having to wait for OMB to approve a reappointment, it would seem self-defeating for a successful committee to continue to maintain its’ success by 'constantly' changing that synergy? I am not sure why there would have to be term limits for members, especially now that the new TOR will address non-performing members, for whatever reasons, with OMB approval. Is there a vehicle for a Full Member, after serving 2 3-year terms to ever be a Full Member again? Maybe after 1 3-year term as an Associate Member, they could be reconsidered for Full Membership, again. Good Statisticians are hard to find & it seems like the committee & AOAC would be compromising itself by 'forcefully' removing good members. There should just be a good way of circulating all members, if nothing else, to allow for more good Talent to enter the mix.