Descriptive and Inferential Statistics
Descriptive and Inferential Statistics
Greg Hagen, Jean Parker, Jade Riley, Nanika Woods, Myron Hamilton, Tajah Gutierrez, Treva Eley
PSY/315
June 9, 2012
Nancy A. Walker
Descriptive and Inferential Statistics Statistics is a vital part of the psychological field as the analysis of statistics provides researchers with a means of both describing the results of research and surmising from those results, as well as drawing conclusions related to a hypothesis. Statistics gives a better understanding and exact description of a phenomenon of nature when in the field of study and includes data collection, data analysis, interpretation of, and making inferences from the data.This analysis is usually done on information that has been assembled in the form of graphs and charts of various types. Essentially, there are two branches of methodology involving statistics, descriptive statistics and inferential statistics, with descriptive statistics describing the research, and inferential statistics making inferences from it. Without statistics, researchers would have little foundation for the validation of their theories. “Statistics is a form of math and this math is used when concerning analyzing, organizing as well as interpreting groups of numbers” (Aron, A., Aron E. N., & Coups, E. J., 2009). They are used to compare and contrast information in order to see if or how they are related, as well as if they validate the information that has been gathered. The information provided by statistics helps present information in a suitable tabular, diagrammatic and graphic form for an easy and clear comprehension of the data. This understanding of the information through quantitative observations provides validation with a measure of reliability about population through statistical data. Statics also presents facts about a study in simple forms as the raw data may be unintelligible. The methods for statistical reasoning come in two main varieties, descriptive and
Greg Hagen, Jean Parker, Jade Riley, Nanika Woods, Myron Hamilton, Tajah Gutierrez, Treva Eley
PSY/315
June 9, 2012
Nancy A. Walker
Descriptive and Inferential Statistics Statistics is a vital part of the psychological field as the analysis of statistics provides researchers with a means of both describing the results of research and surmising from those results, as well as drawing conclusions related to a hypothesis. Statistics gives a better understanding and exact description of a phenomenon of nature when in the field of study and includes data collection, data analysis, interpretation of, and making inferences from the data.This analysis is usually done on information that has been assembled in the form of graphs and charts of various types. Essentially, there are two branches of methodology involving statistics, descriptive statistics and inferential statistics, with descriptive statistics describing the research, and inferential statistics making inferences from it. Without statistics, researchers would have little foundation for the validation of their theories. “Statistics is a form of math and this math is used when concerning analyzing, organizing as well as interpreting groups of numbers” (Aron, A., Aron E. N., & Coups, E. J., 2009). They are used to compare and contrast information in order to see if or how they are related, as well as if they validate the information that has been gathered. The information provided by statistics helps present information in a suitable tabular, diagrammatic and graphic form for an easy and clear comprehension of the data. This understanding of the information through quantitative observations provides validation with a measure of reliability about population through statistical data. Statics also presents facts about a study in simple forms as the raw data may be unintelligible. The methods for statistical reasoning come in two main varieties, descriptive and
References: Aron, A., Aron, E. N., & Coups, E. J. (2009). Statistics for psychology (5th ed.). Upper Saddle, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall. William M.K. Trochim Copyright 2006 (Inferential Statistics and Descriptive Statistics) retrieved June 9, 2012 from http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/statdesc.php