Statistics

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the field of statistics. For statistics about Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:Statistics. For other uses, see Statistics (disambiguation).

Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data.^[1][2] It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments.^[1]

A statistician is someone who is particularly well versed in the ways of thinking necessary for the successful application of statistical analysis. Such people have often gained this experience through working in any of a wide number of fields. There is also a discipline calledmathematical statistics that studies statistics mathematically.

The word statistics, when referring to the scientific discipline, is singular, as in "Statistics is an art."^[3] This should not be confused with the word statistic, referring to a quantity (such as mean or median) calculated from a set of data,^[4] whose plural is statistics ("this statistic seems wrong" or "these statistics are misleading").

More probability density will be found the closer one gets to the expected (mean) value in a normal distribution. Statistics used instandardized testing assessment are shown. The scales includestandard deviations, cumulative percentages, percentile equivalents, Z-scores, T-scores, standard nines, and percentages in standard nines.

Contents   [hide]  1 Scope 2 History 3 Overview 4 Statistical methods 4.1 Experimental and observational studies 4.2 Levels of measurement 4.3 Key terms used in statistics 4.4 Examples 5 Specialized disciplines 6 Statistical computing 7 Misuse 8 Statistics applied to mathematics or the arts 9 See also 10 Notes 11 References 12 External links 12.1 Online non-commercial textbooks 12.2 Other non-commercial resources