Introduction and Importance of Statistics

Croxton and Cowden defined statistics as the science

of collection, presentation, analysis and interpretation

of numerical data from the logical analysis.

Statistics have role in decision-making processes e.g.

Decision to market a new Drug

For long time, Statistics was identified solely with the

displays of data and charts pertaining to the

economic, demographic, and political situations

prevailing in a country.

Passive display of numbers and charts is now a minor

aspect of statistics

What, then, are the role and principal objectives of

statistics ????

Statistics deals with collecting informative data,

interpreting these data, and drawing conclusions about

a phenomenon under study.

The principles and methodology of statistics are useful

in answering questions such as,

What kind and how much data need to be collected?

How can we analyze the data and draw conclusions?

How do we assess the strength of the conclusions and

limit their uncertainty?