Statistics In an Essay

Statistic is defined as the science that deals with the collection, classification, analysis, and interpretation of numerical facts or data, and that, by use of mathematical theories of probability, imposes order and regularity on aggregates of more or less disparate elements.

In Chapter 5 of “Writing Arguments: A Rhetoric with Readings (pp 100-101)” we learned that numbers and statistical data can be framed in so many ways. By recognizing how writers frame numbers to support the story they want to tell, you will always be aware that other stories are also possible. Ethical use of numbers means that you use reputable sources for your basic data, that you don’t invent or intentionally distort numbers for your own purposes, and that you don’t ignore alternative points of view.

If the researchers have not studied all the people, they have studied a small group of people, and are generalizing the results to lots of people. This is known as inferential statistics, because you are inferring properties about a large group from a smaller group. As a statistician or a researcher, it is your hope that this smaller group is representative of the larger group, and that the two groups behave the same way. If they do not, then your inference may not be correct.

If you merely want to describe the data that you have for one single group, then you are using descriptive statistics. If you want to say something about a larger group, or you want your reader to infer something about a larger group, then you need to use inferential statistics. It is important to understand the difference between these two because how you use a statistic depends on what type of statistic it is.