Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 The Scope of Statistics
- 2 The Collection of Data
- 3 The Tabulation of Data
- 4 The Pictorial Representation of Data
- 5 Frequency Distributions
- 6 Averages
- 7 Measures of Dispersion
- 8 Probability and Sampling
- 9 The Binomial Theorem
- 10 Further Probability Concepts
- 11 Tests of Significance
- 12 Further Tests of Significance
- 13 Sampling Techniques
- 14 Simulation
- 15 Time Series
- 16 Pairs of Characters
- Solutions to Exercises
- Bibliography
- Index
1 - The Scope of Statistics
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 February 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 The Scope of Statistics
- 2 The Collection of Data
- 3 The Tabulation of Data
- 4 The Pictorial Representation of Data
- 5 Frequency Distributions
- 6 Averages
- 7 Measures of Dispersion
- 8 Probability and Sampling
- 9 The Binomial Theorem
- 10 Further Probability Concepts
- 11 Tests of Significance
- 12 Further Tests of Significance
- 13 Sampling Techniques
- 14 Simulation
- 15 Time Series
- 16 Pairs of Characters
- Solutions to Exercises
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Broadly speaking, statistics is the numerical study of a problem. Unless the problem can be reduced to quantities measurable on a scale or capable of being expressed as a number, it is impossible to make a statistical study of it. Statistics is not, however, just concerned with the counting of individuals or the measuring of items. Its ramifications are far wider than that, and include the study of what are the right figures to collect and the correct interpretation to be placed on them. The politician trying to envisage the effects of different forms of taxation needs to know the estimated yields of each form of taxation proposed; and the local town councillor must be able to appreciate how the local rate is split up into various headings. The citizen today is deluged with White papers, Economic surveys and a multitude of reports not only from the Government but from banks, insurance companies and industrial firms, all of which present, and argue from, a mass of statistical data. An understanding of statistics and the treatment of numerical data is therefore essential and only by a patient study of the part played by figures in such reports can good decisions be made and policies understood and, if need be, criticised. It is necessary to recognise, moreover, the power and the limitations of statistical arguments, to learn how to obtain the full information from a set of figures and how to avoid the pitfalls which await the unwary.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Principles of Statistical TechniquesA First Course from the Beginnings, for Schools and Universities, with Many Examples and Solutions, pp. 1 - 8Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1969