Branches Of Statistics

What would an investigator use if they wanted to summarize and describe important features of data?
If an investigator wanted to summarize and describe important features of data, they would use methods from descriptive statistics.

From ChatGPT

Descriptive statistics is a branch of statistics that involves summarizing and organizing data to highlight its key characteristics. The primary goal is to provide a clear, concise overview of the data set without making inferences or predictions about a larger population. Descriptive statistics help transform raw data into meaningful patterns and insights.

Four examples of descriptive statistics methods
  1. Histograms.
  2. Boxplots.
  3. Scatter plots.
  4. Calculation of numerical summary measures such as means, standard deviations, and correlation coefficients.

What has made descriptive statistics methods easier to carry out?
Descriptive statistics methods have been made easier to carry out with the wide availability of statistical computer software packages.

What software packages does this textbook present output from?
The software packages that this textbook presents output from include:

  • Minitab.
  • SAS.
  • JMP.
  • R.

Example 1.1

What things would be harder to determine with data that's not organized?
With data that's not organized, things which would be harder to determine include:

  • What a typical (representative) value might be.
  • Whether values are highly concentrated about a typical value or quite dispersed.
  • Whether there are any gaps in the data.
  • What fraction of the values are less than, greater than, or equal to a certain value.

What two visual representations are used to provide summaries of organized data?
Two visual representations which are used to provide summaries of organized data include:

  1. The stem-and-leaf display.
  2. The histogram.
Example of a stem-and-leaf display and a histogram for charity data

What branch of statistics consists of techniques for generalizing from a sample to a population?
The branch of statistics that consists of techniques for generalizing from a sample to a population is inferential statistics.

Example 1.2

Note

Understanding Confidence Intervals Easy Examples And Formulas by Rebecca Bevans

What is the confidence interval also called?
The confidence interval is also called the interval estimate.

What is the lower bound of the confidence interval also called?
The lower bound of the confidence interval is also called the lower prediction bound.

...

What is the main focus of this book?
The main focus of this book is to present and illustrate methods of inferential statistics which are useful in scientific work.

...

What does mastery of probability lead to a better understanding of?
Mastery of probability leads to a better understanding of:

  • How inferential procedures are developed and used.
  • How statistical conclusions can be translated into everyday language and interpreted.
  • When and where pitfalls can occur in applying the methods.

What do probability and statistics both deal with?
Probability and statistics both deal with questions involving populations and samples in an "inverse manner" to one another.

...