Descriptive and Inferential Statistics - Research Paper Example

Descriptive and Inferential Statistics Affiliation: Descriptive statistics is thedescription, analysis and the summarizing of the analyzed data in such a way that a meaningful pattern of data and results is achieved. Descriptive statistics can also be defined as a set of mathematical data that summarizes all the data present in a given population in order to draw a meaningful pattern that would make it easier to understand the data that has been presented and also facilitate in the conclusion later on with the help of other statistical techniques.

Descriptive statistics are a summarized and simplified set of data for easier and quicker understanding of a given set of data. That summarized and simplified data however does not present any conclusion about the data (Howell, 2012).Inferential statistics on the other hand is a study about the conclusion (hence the term inference) of data that has already been collected in order to generalize the results to the whole population under study. Inferential statistics can also be defined as a set of mathematical procedures that use probability technique to draw conclusion on already collected data about a given population.

Inferential statistics are a branch of statistics that build on data summarized through descriptive statistics to make conclusions by use of probability and predictions (Healey, 2011).ReferencesHealey, J. F. (2011). Statistics: A Tool for Social Research. New York: Cengage Learning.Howell, D. (2012). Statistical Methods for Psychology. New York: Cengage Learning.