Descriptive Statistics - Essay Example

Give several examples of how descriptive statistics are used in everyday life. What advice would you give to others when interpreting statistics? Descriptive statistics are used to describe the sample we are concerned with (Gaten, 2000). They provide a simple summary of the quantitative analysis of data in a simpler and manageable form (Trochim, 2006). They are used in several way in our everyday lives. For students like me, descriptive statistic comes in the form of my GPA or General Point Average, which summarizes my performance across all the academic subjects I took in various discipline in just one figure.

For teenagers who like sport say for example baseball, descriptive statistics comes in the form of batting average, the single digit that indicates the probability that a player will hit the ball. In basketball, its equivalent is the player’s average score for the season. In the performance of the economy or, it is our GNP or the Gross National Product which is the sum total of all goods and services produced in the country. In business, it is the average growth for an X number of years that would show that the company is growing.

In formulating descriptive statistics, it is highly advised to consider who the audience of the report. If it would used for general audience, it is advised to make the description as simple as possible for it to make sense to its general audience. If it will be used for educational purpose such as in classroom or research, more data can be included but it is suggested that it should be supported by graphics such as graphs and charts so that it can be easily understood. ReferencesTrochim, M.K. (2006).

Descriptive statistics. Retrived from http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/statdesc.phpGaten, T (2000). Descriptive statistics. Retrived from http://www.le.ac.uk/bl/gat/virtualfc/Stats/descrip.html