Statistics
'’Statistics’’ - the science of
- collecting, organizing, summarizing, analyzing data
- drawing conclusions from it
Goal: use imperfect information to infer facts, make predictions, and make decisions.
'’A statistic’’ a number or value measured in context
Statistical Investigation
Data Analysis: Process of statistical investigation:
- pose a question
- collect relevant data
- analyze
- form a conclusion (how?)
Questions 2-4 - answered by Statistics
Types
There are two types of statistics:
- Descriptive Statistics - summarizing data with numbers or plots
- Inferential Statistics - making conclusions or decisions based on data
Good Online Resources
Free online books and online resources on statistics
- OpenIntro Statistics (book)
- http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Statistics
- http://onlinestatbook.com/2/index.html
- http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Topic:Statistics