This document discusses the role and importance of statistics in scientific research. It begins by defining statistics as the science of learning from data and communicating uncertainty. Statistics are important for summarizing, analyzing, and drawing inferences from data in research studies. They also allow researchers to effectively present their findings and support their conclusions. The document then describes how statistics are used and are important in many fields of scientific research like biology, economics, physics, and more. It also provides examples of statistical terms commonly used in research studies and some common misuses of statistics.

1. Role of Statistics
in
Scientific Research
A Special Topic Discussion By;
Waruna Kodituwakku & Harsha Perera

2. "Statistics is the grammar of science.”
Karl Pearson
"If your experiment needs statistics, you
ought to have done a better experiment....“
Ernest Rutherford

3. Questions
What is statistics?
Why Study Statistics?
What is the importance of statistics in scientific
research?
What is the role of statistics in research?
Describe the importance of statistics in different
fields of study

4. Questions Contd.
What are the statistical terms used in research
studies?
What are the misuses of statistics in a
research?
How effectively present stat findings using
tools such as tables, graphs etc.

5. What is Statistics?

6. “Statistics is the science of learning from data, and of
measuring, controlling, and communicating uncertainty;
and it thereby provides the navigation essential for
controlling the course of scientific and societal advances”
(Davidian and Louis, 2012)
“Statistics is the study of the collection, analysis,
interpretation, presentation and organization of data”.
(Dodge, Y. (2006) The Oxford Dictionary of Statistical
Terms)

7. Statistical methods can be used to summarize or describe a
collection of data; this is called descriptive statistics.
In addition, patterns in the data may be modeled in a way
that accounts for randomness and uncertainty in the
observations, and are then used to draw inferences about the
process or population being studied; this is called inferential
statistics.

8. "Applied statistics" contains descriptive statistics and the application of
inferential statistics.
“Theoretical statistics” consist of logical arguments underlying justification
of approaches to statistical inference.
“Mathematical statistics” contains the manipulation of probability
distributions necessary for deriving results related to methods of estimation
and various aspects of computational statistics and the design of
experiments.

9. Why Study Statistics?

10. • Knowledge in statistics provides you with the
necessary tools and conceptual foundations in
quantitative reasoning to extract information
intelligently from this sea of data.
• Statistical methods and analyses are often used to
communicate research findings and to support
hypotheses and give credibility to research
methodology and conclusions.
• It is important for researchers and also consumers of
research to understand statistics so that they can be
informed, evaluate the credibility and usefulness of
information, and make appropriate decisions.

11. What is the importance
of statistics in
scientific research?

12. • Statistics play a vital role in researches. For example
statistics can used as in data collection, analysis,
interpretation, explanation and presentation. Use of
statistics will guide researchers in research for proper
characterization, summarization, presentation and
interpretation of the result of research.
• Statistics provides a platform for research as to; How to go
about your research, either to consider a sample or the
whole population, the Techniques to use in data collection
and observation, how to go about the data description
(using measure of central tendency).

13. • Statistical methods and analyses are often used to
communicate research findings and to support
hypotheses and give credibility to research
methodology and conclusions.
• It is important for researchers and also
consumers of research to understand statistics
so that they can be informed, evaluate the
credibility and usefulness of information, and
make appropriate decisions.

14. • Statics is very important when it comes to the
conclusion of the research.
• In this aspect the major purposes of statistics
are to help us understand and
describe phenomena in our word and to help
us draw reliable conclusions about those
phenomena.

15. What is the role of
statistics in
scientific research?

17. Describe the importance of
statistics in different fields of
study.

18. Statistics has important role in determining the
existing position of per capita income,
unemployment, population growth rate, housing,
schooling medical facilities etc…in a country.
Now statistics holds a central position in almost
every field like Industry, Commerce, Trade, Physics,
Chemistry, Economics, Mathematics, Biology,
Botany, Psychology, Astronomy, Information
Technology etc…, so application of statistics is very
wide.

19. Specialties have evolved to apply statistical theory and methods to
various disciplines. So there are different fields of application of
statistics. Some of those are described below.
• Astrostatistics is the discipline that applies statistical analysis to
the understanding of astronomical data.
• Biostatistics is a branch of biology that studies biological
phenomena and observations by means of statistical analysis, and
includes medical statistics.
• Econometrics is a branch of economics that applies statistical
methods to the empirical study of economic theories and
relationships.
• Business analytics is a rapidly developing business process that
applies statistical methods to data sets to develop new insights
and understanding of business performance & opportunities.

20. • Environmental statistics is the application of statistical methods to
environmental science. Weather, climate, air and water quality are
included, as are studies of plant and animal populations.
• Statistical mechanics is the application of probability theory, which
includes mathematical tools for dealing with large populations, to the
field of mechanics, which is concerned with the motion of particles or
objects when subjected to a force.
• Statistical physics is one of the fundamental theories of physics, and
uses methods of probability theory in solving physical problems.
• Actuarial science is the discipline that applies mathematical and
statistical methods to assess risk in the insurance and finance industries.

21. What are the statistical terms
used in research studies?

22. Population
sampling
Generalization Hypothesis
Significance tests Correlation Regression
analysis
Correlation
coefficient (r)
Dependent and
Independent
variable
Elasticity
Standard deviation Factor analysis t-Test
Q-Test Chi-squared test Mann–Whitney U-test
Wilcoxon matched
pairs test
Fisher's exact test One-way ANOVA

23. What are the misuses of
statistics in a research?

24. Discarding unfavorable data Loaded questions
Overgeneralization Biased samples
Misreporting or misunderstanding
of estimated error
False causality
Proof of the null hypothesis Confusing statistical significance
with practical significance
Misleading Graphs Data manipulation
Suspect Samples Ambiguous Averages

26. References
Bu.edu, 'Why Study Statistics » Statistics » Boston University', 2014. [Online]. Available:
http://www.bu.edu/stat/undergraduate-program-information/why-study-statistics/. [Accessed: 23- Oct-
2014].
Understanding Descriptive and Inferential Statistics. 2014. Understanding Descriptive and Inferential Statistics.
[ONLINE] Available at:https://statistics.laerd.com/statistical-guides/descriptive-inferential-statistics.php.
[Accessed 27 October 2014].
Kent, J 2013, ' Why Statistics Is Important To A Research?', Viewed 24 October 2014,
http://education.blurtit.com/335945/why-statistics-is-important-to-a-research
Journalists Resources 2014, 'Statistical terms used in research studies', Viewed 24 October 2014,
http://journalistsresource.org/skills/research/statistics-for-journalists#
Theanalysisfactor.com, 'Factor Analysis: A Short Introduction, Part 1', 2014. [Online]. Available:
http://www.theanalysisfactor.com/factor-analysis-1-introduction/. [Accessed: 25- Oct- 2014].
Stattrek.com, 'Regression Example', 2014. [Online]. Available: http://stattrek.com/regression/regression-example.
aspx. [Accessed: 26- Oct- 2014].
Ats.ucla.edu, (2014). What statistical analysis should I use? Statistical analyses using Stata. [online] Available
at: http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/whatstat/whatstat.htm [Accessed 26 Oct. 2014].