Besides the proper tabulation of aggregates, ratios are simple yet powerful tools of interpretation.1 The algebraic operation of division establishes a binary relationship between two numbers, to subdivide, but more importantly for statistics, to compare. The importance of ratios resides in the fact that a statistical aggregate is an artificial creation that has no counterpart in the perceptible world of human experience. Its informational content, the big picture of a socio-economic phenomenon can only be revealed through connecting a given statistical aggregate with other, similarly abstract creations, namely other statistical aggregates.
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© 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
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Winkler, O.W. (2009). Ratios in the Social Sciences. In: Interpreting Economic and Social Data. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68721-4_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-68721-4_4
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