Some Quotes
“Statistics must have a clearly defined purpose one aspect of which is scientific advance and other, human welfare and national development” – P C Mahalanobis
“Statistics is the Grammar of
Science” – Karl Pearson
“Facts are stubborn things, but
statistics are pliable” – Mark Twain
Definition
“The Statistics refers to a
branch of data and mathematics which
specializes in enumeration their relation
to metric data” (Guilford and Fruchter, 1978).
“Mathematical procedures used to
describe data and draw inferences from them”
(Baron, 1993).
Why a Psychology Student Need to
Study Statistics??
Owing to the dynamic nature and
uncertainty of human behaviour the
psychology researchers find it extremely difficult to conduct purely objective
laboratory experiments. But the social researcher needs to explain and predict
human behaviour. To overcome it, psychologists’ resort to study in controlled
environment and then apply various rigorous statistical methods to predict the probability
of occurrence of specific type of behaviour.
As Guilford and
Fruchter (1978) rightly commented that
statistical methods are the constant companions of experiments and of course of
psychologists too. Few more reasons:
(i) To read and understand advanced research reports.
(ii) To be a researcher we need to know statistics.
(iii) Statistics helps in exploring causal relations.
(iv) Statistics is known to develop analytical, reasoning and
critical thinking ability.
Historical Perspective from
Indian Point of View
The fundamental aim
of statistics is to give determinate and adequate knowledge of reality with the
help of numbers and numerical analysis. In India we have clear evidence that
administrative statistics had reached a high state of organization before 300
B.C.E. In the Arthasastra of Kautilya … the duties of the Gopa, the village
accountant, [include] “by setting up boundaries to villages, by numbering plots
of grounds as cultivated, uncultivated, plains, wet-lands, gardens, vegetable
gardens, fences (váta), forests altars, temples of gods, irrigation works,
cremation grounds, feeding houses (sattra), places where water is freely
supplied to travellers (prapá), places of pilgrimage, pasture grounds and
roads, and thereby fixing the boundaries of various villages, of fields, of
forests, and of roads, he shall register gifts, sales, charities, and remission
of taxes regarding fields (P C Mahalanobis).
Introduction
Statistics must be essential part
of professional training because it enable the researchers to summarize the
results in a meaningful and convenient form (Guilford and Fruchter, 1978). The
statistics helps the researcher in standardizing the procedures, analysis of
data and causal factors, summarizing results, generalization of results, and
prediction. In social sciences & psychology various statistical techniques
are used such as measuring central tendencies, correlations, regression, analysis
of variance etc. All these are achieved only when we have certain type of
classified or categorized data because it acts as a raw material for the
statistical procedures. The raw data is arranged in various categories such as frequencies,
percentages, proportions
and ratios.
(i) Frequencies – No. of objects or events in a specific
category.
(ii) Percentage – A kind of mathematical index with base 100.
(iii) Proportions – It is part or fraction of 1 and 𝟏/𝟏𝟎𝟎
of a percentage or percentage is 100 times proportion. Its base is 1.
(iv) Ratio – Ratio is a fraction i.e. ratio of m to n is 𝒎/𝒏. Its base is 1. Ratio is part to
total as well as part. Whereas proportion is part to total. Proportion is a special
ratio.
Types of Statistics
1. Non-Parametric statistics – Statistical tests which are not based on a normal distribution
of data or on any other assumption are also known as distribution-free tests
and the data are generally ranked or grouped.
2. Parametric statistics – Statistical tests which are based on a normal
distribution of data or data that meets normal distribution assumptions.
Parametric tests normally involve data in absolute numbers or values.
References:
Guilford, J. P. and Fruchter, B. (1978). Fundamental
Statistics in Psychology and Education, 6th ed. Tokyo: McGraw-Hill.
https://todayinsci.com/M/Mahalanobis_Prasanta/MahalanobisPrasanta-Quotations.htm.
Garrett, H. E. (2014). Statistics in Psychology and
Education. New Delhi: Pragon International.
Levin, J. & Fox, J. A.
(2006). Elementary Statistics. New Delhi: Pearson.
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