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STATISTICS:
Definition, Types, and Importance. What Is Statistics? Statistics is a branch of applied mathematics that involves the collection, description, analysis, and inference of conclusions from quantitative data. Why Is Statistics Important? Statistics is used to conduct research, evaluate outcomes, develop critical thinking, and make informed decisions about a set of data. Statistics can be used to inquire about almost any field of study to investigate why things happen, when they occur, Understanding Statistics Statistics are used in virtually all scientific disciplines, such as the physical and social sciences as well as in business, medicine, the humanities, government, and manufacturing. In practice, statistics is the idea that we can learn about the properties of large sets of objects or events (a population) by studying the characteristics of a smaller number of similar objects or events (a sample). Gathering comprehensive data about an entire population is too costly, time consuming, difficult, or impossible in many cases, so statistics start with a sample that can be conveniently or affordably observed. Statisticians measure and gather data about the individuals or elements of a sample and analyze this data to generate descriptive statistics. They can then use these observed characteristics of the sample data, which are properly called “statistics,” to make inferences or educated guesses about the unmeasured characteristics of the broader population, known as the parameters. Descriptive and Inferential Statistics The two major areas of statistics are known as descriptive statistics, which describes the properties of sample and population data, and inferential statistics, which uses those properties to test hypotheses and draw conclusions. Descriptive statistics include mean (average), variance, skewness, and kurtosis. Inferential statistics include linear regression analysis, analysis of variance (ANOVA), logit/Probit models, and null hypothesis testing. Descriptive statistics mostly focus on the central tendency, variability, and distribution of sample data. Central tendency means the estimate of the characteristics, a typical element of a sample or population. It includes descriptive statistics such as mean, median, and mode.
Variability refers to a set of statistics that show how
much difference there is among the elements of a sample or population along the characteristics measured. It includes metrics such as range, variance, and standard deviation. Inferential statistics is a tool that statisticians use to draw conclusions about the characteristics of a population, drawn from the characteristics of a sample. It is also used to determine how certain they can be of the reliability of those conclusions. Based on the sample size and distribution, statisticians can calculate the probability that statistics, which measure the central tendency, variability, distribution, and relationships between characteristics within a data sample, provide an accurate picture of the corresponding parameters of the whole population from which the sample is drawn. Mean, Median, and Mode The terms “mean,” “median,” and “mode” fall under the umbrella of central tendency. They describe an element that’s typical in a given sample group. You can find the mean descriptor by adding the numbers in the group and dividing the result by the number of data set observations. The middle number in the set is the median. Mode identifies the number that falls between the highest and lowest values. It appears most frequently in the data set. Understanding Statistical Data The root of statistics is driven by variables. A variable is a data set that can be counted that marks a characteristic or attribute of an item. There are two main types of variables: First, qualitative variables are specific attributes that are often non-numeric. Many of the examples given in the car example are qualitative. Other examples of qualitative variables in statistics are gender, eye color, or city of birth. Qualitative data is most often used to determine what percentage of an outcome occurs for any given qualitative variable. Qualitative analysis often does not rely on numbers. For example, trying to determine what percentage of women own a business analyzes qualitative data. The second type of variable in statistics is quantitative variables. Quantitative variables are studied numerically and only have weight when they’re about a non-numerical descriptor. Similar to quantitative analysis, this information is rooted in numbers. Quantitative variables can be further broken into two categories. First, discrete variables have limitations in statistics and infer that there are gaps between potential discrete variable values. Statistics also makes use of continuous quantitative variables. These values run along a scale. Discrete values have limitations, but continuous variables are often measured into decimals. Any value within possible limits can be obtained when measuring the height of the football players, and the heights can be measured down to 1/16th of an inch, if not further.
