01 - The Importance of Statistics - Statistics by Jim

The Importance of Statistics - Statistics By Jim
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The Importance of Statistics

By Jim Frost — 40 Comments
The field of statistics is the science of learning from data. Statistical knowledge helps you use the
proper methods to collect the data, employ the correct analyses, and effectively present the results.
Statistics is a crucial process behind how we make discoveries in science, make decisions based
on data, and make predictions. Statistics allows you to understand a subject much more deeply.
In this post, I cover two main reasons why

studying the field of statistics is crucial in
modern society. First, statisticians are guides
for learning from data and navigating common
problems that can lead you to incorrect
https://statisticsbyjim.com/basics/importance-statistics/[28-04-2021 14:25:36]
conclusions. Second, given the growing

importance of decisions and opinions based on
data, it’s crucial that you can critically assess the
quality of analyses that others present to you.
Personally, I think statistics is an exciting field about the thrill of discovery, learning, and
challenging your assumptions. Statistics facilitates the creation of new knowledge. Bit by bit, we
push back the frontier of what is known. To learn more about my passion for statistics as an
experienced statistician , read about my experiences and challenges early in my scientific research
career.
Statistics Uses Numerical Evidence to Draw Valid

Conclusions
Statistics are not just numbers and facts. You know, things like 4 out of 5 dentists prefer a specific
toothpaste. Instead, it’s an array of knowledge and procedures that allow you to learn from data
reliably. Statistics allow you to evaluate claims based on quantitative evidence and help you
differentiate between reasonable and dubious conclusions. That aspect is particularly vital these
days because data are so plentiful along with interpretations presented by people with unknown
motivations.
Statisticians offer critical guidance in producing trustworthy analyses and predictions. Along the
way, statisticians can help investigators avoid a wide variety of analytical traps.
Vision Optimum
It can help you protect your eyes against digital screen and age-
related eye diseases.
When analysts use statistical procedures correctly, they tend to produce accurate results. In fact,
statistical analyses account for uncertainty and error in the results. Statisticians ensure that all
aspects of a study follow the appropriate methods to produce trustworthy results. These methods
include:
Producing reliable data.

Analyzing the data appropriately.
Drawing reasonable conclusions.
Statisticians Know How to Avoid Common Pitfalls
Using statistical analyses to produce findings for a study is the culmination of a long process. This
process includes constructing the study design, selecting and measuring the variables, devising the
sampling technique and sample size , cleaning the data, and determining the analysis methodology
among numerous other issues. The overall quality of the results depends on the entire chain of
events. A single weak link might produce unreliable results. The following list provides a small
taste of potential problems and analytical errors that can affect a study.
Biased samples: An incorrectly drawn sample can bias the conclusions from the start. For
example, if a study uses human subjects, the subjects might be different than non-subjects in a way
that affects the results. See: Populations, Parameters, and Samples in Inferential Statistics.
Overgeneralization: Findings from one population might not apply to another population.
Unfortunately, it’s not necessarily clear what differentiates one population from another. Statistical
inferences are always limited, and you must understand the limitations.
Causality: How do you determine when X causes a change in Y? Statisticians need tight
standards to assume causality whereas others accept causal relationships more easily. When A
precedes B, and A is correlated with B, many mistakenly believe it is a causal connection!
However, you’ll need to use an experimental design that includes random assignment to assume
confidently that the results represent causality. Learn how to determine whether you’re observing
causation or correlation!
Incorrect analysis: Are you analyzing a multivariate study area with only one variable? Or,
using an inadequate set of variables? Perhaps you’re assessing the mean when the median might be
a better? Or, did you fit a linear relationship to data that are nonlinear? You can use a wide range
of analytical tools, but not all of them are correct for a specific situation.
Violating the assumptions for an analysis: Most statistical analyses have assumptions.
These assumptions often involve properties of the sample, variables, data, and the model. Adding
to the complexity, you can waive some assumptions under specific conditions—sometimes thanks
to the central limit theorem. When you violate an important assumption, you risk producing
misleading results.
Data mining: Even when analysts do everything else correctly, they can produce falsely
significant results by investigating a dataset for too long. When analysts conduct many tests, some
will be statistically significant due to chance patterns in the data. Fastidious statisticians track the
number of tests performed during a study and place the results in the proper context.
Numerous considerations must be correct to produce trustworthy conclusions. Unfortunately, there

are many ways to mess up analyses and produce misleading results. Statisticians can guide others
through this swamp!
Use Statistics to Make an Impact in Your Field
Statistical analyses are used in almost all fields to make sense of the vast amount of data that are
available. Even if the field of statistics is not your primary field of study, it can help you make an
impact in your chosen field. Chances are very high that you’ll need working knowledge of
statistical methodology both to produce new findings in your field and to understand the work of
others.
Conversely, as a statistician, there is a high demand for your skills in a wide variety of areas:
universities, research labs, government, industry, etc. Furthermore, statistical careers often pay
quite well. One of my favorite quotes about statistics is the following by John Tukey:
“The best thing about being a statistician is that you get to play in everyone else’s backyard.”
My interests are quite broad, and statistical knowledge provides the tools to understand all of them.
Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics: Use Statistical

Knowledge to Protect Yourself
I’m sure you’re familiar with the expression about damned lies and statistics, which was spread by
Mark Twain among others. Is it true?
Unscrupulous analysts can use incorrect methodology to draw unwarranted conclusions. That long
list of accidental pitfalls can quickly become a source of techniques to produce misleading
analyses intentionally. But, how do you know? If you’re not familiar with statistics, these
manipulations can be hard to detect. Statistical knowledge is the solution to this problem. Use it to
protect yourself from manipulation and to react to information intelligently.
Learn how anecdotal evidence is the opposite of statistical methodology and how it can lead you
astray!
Using statistics in a scientific study requires a lot of planning. To learn more about this process,
read 5 Steps for Conducting Scientific Studies with Statistical Analyses.
The world today produces more data and more analyses designed to influence you than ever
before. Are you ready for it?
If you’re learning about statistics and like the approach I use in my blog, check out my
Introduction to Statistics eBook!
Learn more $9.00 USD
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Comments
Novie Pajaron says

February 5, 2021 at 3:22 am
Hello sir Jim, your articles is very interesting and very much helpful.
Knowing about statistics sir, I have personal question: How do you apply statistics in the research
process?
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Jim Frost says
February 5, 2021 at 9:58 pm
Hi Novie,
I happen to have written a blog post exactly about that topic! 5 Steps for Conducting Studies
with Statistics
Please read that post and if you have more specific questions about a part of the process, you
can post them there.
Thanks for writing!
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Saegiru says
December 1, 2020 at 4:16 am
what year was this made? im planning to use it as a reference to my paper
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Jim Frost says

December 1, 2020 at 11:39 pm
Hi Saegiru,
For online resources, you typically don’t use the publication data because it can change over
time. Instead, you generally use the data you accessed the URL. Perdue University’s Online
Writing Lab (OWL) has a great web page for how to reference websites and URLs. Please
see their guidelines.
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PepePoggers says
November 6, 2020 at 6:18 am
THANK YOU FOR THIS ‘VERY HELPFUL’
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jiang hang says

September 27, 2020 at 11:38 am
When are ur articles publisehd?
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Jim Frost says

September 28, 2020 at 2:16 pm
Hi Jiang,
I post new articles every 2-4 weeks. You can subscribe to receive an email every time I post a
new article. Look in the right side bar, partway down for the place to enter your email
address. I do not send spam or sell your email.
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John says
August 7, 2020 at 11:06 am
Jim.
What a champion you are. Than you so much.
May God Bless.
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Rubia Pereira says

June 15, 2020 at 7:02 pm
Achei incrível, maravilhoso texto!!! Trabalhar com estatística, a Bioestatística em particular é

desafiador.
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Jim Frost says

June 15, 2020 at 10:24 pm
Obrigado! Estou feliz que meu site seja útil!
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Pauline Tavengana says

June 13, 2020 at 5:30 am
I’m really grateful for this explanation. You clarified everything, more knowledge I pray.
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clare says
March 2, 2020 at 1:44 pm
Thank you sir ,for your selfless services,your text really help me. more knowledge I pray ��.
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Ericson C. L. Monger, Jr. says

February 16, 2020 at 7:18 pm
Thanks a lot, Jim. I found very useful, your article in the preparation of my research work. I highly
appreciate your work.
Thanks.
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Burcin says
Hi Jim, I am elated to run into your website. You clearly explain confusing subjects. As I have
decided to embark on learning data science, statistics is the number one area that pops up in every
online course. I am curious of your perspective on how linear regression machine learning
algorithms differs from the linear regression in statistics. I would love your explanation to draw
the connection between the two. Moreover, it would be so amazing if you could educate on all of
these algorithms. We need SMEs like yourself to talk in layman’s terms. Thank you!
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Najihah Rosmi says

November 17, 2019 at 11:25 pm
And the year this article was published is when sir? Or the date published. Thank you
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Jim Frost says

Hello Najihah,
To cite this page as a reference, please see the Electronic Sources guidelines from Purdue
University. Look in the “A Page on a Website” section. Typically, you use the access date.
For this post, you can use the following citation (change the date as needed):
Frost, Jim. “The Importance of Statistics” Statistics By Jim,

https://statisticsbyjim.com/basics/importance-statistics/ . Accessed 18 November 2019.
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Arnold Sumaku says

Thank you sir for your well explained notes. This one has really helped me a lot to complete my
assignment
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Eric says
October 2, 2019 at 4:10 am
Please can you help me in writing a reference to your article?
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Jim Frost says

October 2, 2019 at 5:09 pm
Hi Eric,
For this type of request, I always refer people to Purdue’s excellent resource about citing
electronic sources. This first section on their web page is titled “Webpage or Piece of Online
Content” and has several examples that you can use.
Purdue’s Reference List: Electronic Sources
For the author’s name (mine), you can use “Frost, J.”
Thanks for writing!
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Faith says
how does statistics widen the scope of knowledge
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John Tokpah says

June 18, 2019 at 6:08 am
Thanks for the information, it’s quite interesting.
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Geovani Debby Setyani says

May 15, 2019 at 4:23 am
i found your article is so usefull for me writing my thesis. may I know when you wrote this
article?
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Jim Frost says

May 17, 2019 at 10:30 am
Hi Geovani,
Thank you and I’m glad that you found the article to be helpful! I’m not sure exactly when I
wrote it. It goes back quite a ways. However, to reference a webpage, you really need the
retrieved from URL date because webpages can change overtime. Read here to learn How to
cite a website.
Best of luck with your thesis!
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Steav Smith says

April 30, 2019 at 7:22 am
I have found your article very informative and interesting. I appreciate your points of view and I
agree with so many. You’ve done a great job with making this clear enough for anyone to
understand.
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Jim Frost says

April 30, 2019 at 11:07 pm
Thank you so much, Steav! I really appreciate that!
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Musharaf says
March 28, 2019 at 2:13 am
In social science, statistics cover all the jobs which is necessary in social sciences for planning,
estimating,working, facilitating and most important point is that through statistics all information,
observation and data are collected into a single page.
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avery flip says

what is your thought about the importance of statistics in social science?
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shahd says
I have a baseball data sets with 30 independent variables. In this data set, I have one variable
which is a combination of the summation 3 variables from the data set. For example,
x8=x3+x4+x5. I need to build a multiple linear regression model, if i include x8 in my model
should i remove x3,x4,x5. Could you please advise with this
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Jim Frost says

Yes, you should remove those variables!
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usama zahid says

October 23, 2018 at 2:07 pm
thanks for sharing your knowledge with us thankss you sir
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guntaskour says
My notes on statistics are incomplete because I don’t know the importance of statistics .but u help
me a lot in completing my notes .thanku so much sir
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Jim Frost says

September 15, 2018 at 4:17 pm
You’re super welcome! I’m glad it was helpful!
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cera says
June 27, 2018 at 12:26 pm
its really awesome as it helped me a lot in completing my class 11 notes thank you sir thank you
very much for such a wonderful explanation
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Jim Frost says

June 27, 2018 at 2:30 pm
Hi Cera, It makes me happy to hear that my website helped you! Best of luck with your
studies!
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gopala says
March 21, 2018 at 1:56 am
Hi,very well explain in simple language ,

I expect more blogs from you’r side.
especially ,how much sample is required for particular analysis and what are criteria should be
consider before collecting the sample.
Thank you.Jim..
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Jim Frost says

March 21, 2018 at 1:49 pm
Hi Gopala, I’m very happy to hear that you’re finding my blogs to helpful! I have just written
one about determining a good sample size! I think you’ll find that one to be helpful too.
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Madison Kate says

March 14, 2018 at 6:53 am
Hi. Thanks for posting this. This really helped me with my research for the upcoming quiz.
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Jim Frost says

March 14, 2018 at 11:02 am
Hi Madison, you’re very welcome! I’m glad it helped!
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Ron Kenett says

1. The hanging comma (the second one in “Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics”) gives this a totally
different sense.
2. We are in the age of information quality. This is beyond traditional statistics. See
https://www.facebook.com/infoQbook/
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Jim Frost says

Hi Ron, thanks for you thoughtful comment.
The full expression is: “There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” And,
the Wikipedia article includes the final comma. I believe it accurately reflects the intention of
the quote that statistics are worse than both lies and damn lies!
I’d argue that the field of statistics is very concerned about the quality of the information that
goes into analyses. However, it looks like you and your book are taking it to another level.
Congratulations!
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The Importance of Statistics - Statistics By Jim

The Importance of Statistics

In this post, I cover two main reasons why

conclusions. Second, given the growing

Statistics Uses Numerical Evidence to Draw Valid

Producing reliable data.

Statisticians Know How to Avoid Common Pitfalls

Numerous considerations must be correct to produce trustworthy conclusions. Unfortunately, there

Use Statistics to Make an Impact in Your Field

Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics: Use Statistical

Learn more $9.00 USD

Share 1.6K Share Tweet Save 1

Using Applied Statistics to New eBook Release! Difference between Descriptive

Filed Under: Basics Tagged With: conceptual

Novie Pajaron says

Jim Frost says

February 5, 2021 at 9:58 pm

Thanks for writing!

what year was this made? im planning to use it as a reference to my paper

Jim Frost says

THANK YOU FOR THIS ‘VERY HELPFUL’

jiang hang says

When are ur articles publisehd?

Jim Frost says

Rubia Pereira says

Achei incrível, maravilhoso texto!!! Trabalhar com estatística, a Bioestatística em particular é

Jim Frost says

Obrigado! Estou feliz que meu site seja útil!

Pauline Tavengana says

Ericson C. L. Monger, Jr. says

December 7, 2019 at 2:57 pm

Najihah Rosmi says

Jim Frost says

Frost, Jim. “The Importance of Statistics” Statistics By Jim,

Arnold Sumaku says

Please can you help me in writing a reference to your article?

Jim Frost says

Purdue’s Reference List: Electronic Sources

Thanks for writing!

how does statistics widen the scope of knowledge

John Tokpah says

Thanks for the information, it’s quite interesting.

Geovani Debby Setyani says

Jim Frost says

Best of luck with your thesis!

Steav Smith says

Jim Frost says

Thank you so much, Steav! I really appreciate that!

avery flip says

what is your thought about the importance of statistics in social science?

Jim Frost says

Yes, you should remove those variables!

usama zahid says

thanks for sharing your knowledge with us thankss you sir

Jim Frost says

You’re super welcome! I’m glad it was helpful!

Jim Frost says

Hi,very well explain in simple language ,

Jim Frost says

Madison Kate says

Jim Frost says

Hi Madison, you’re very welcome! I’m glad it helped!

Ron Kenett says