Abstract
In Chapter 1 we stated that statistics can be divided into descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. The former is used to arrange, present and summarise the data on some variable so that its principal features can be more readily identified. The three features which we find most useful for summarising data are: a measure of location (for example, the arithmetic mean); a measure of dispersion (typically the standard deviation or variance); and some idea of the shape of the distribution of the data (if the distribution is normal or approximately so, we can use the area properties of the standard normal distribution). In descriptive statistics no serious attempt is made to analyse the data or to generalise the results to larger groups.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1991 David Bowers
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Bowers, D. (1991). Introduction to Statistical Inference. In: Statistics for Economics and Business. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21346-7_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-21346-7_9
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-56029-7
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-21346-7
eBook Packages: Palgrave Business & Management CollectionBusiness and Management (R0)