Question

Give a detailed answer, please!

Descriptive vs. Inferential

Briefly summarize the main functions of descriptive and inferential statistics.

Identify which you feel is the most useful in the biological sciences.

Explain your position, providing supporting evidence from the textbook, other scholarly sources, and/or examples where possible.

Answer 1

1) Main functions of Descriptive Statistics:

The main function of descriptive statistics is to summarize the given data and provide the description of population through graphic representation or numeric values.

It uses measures of Central tendency (mean, mode, median), and measures of dispersion (Standard deviation, Variance, Skewness, kurtosis) to represent the nature of given data.

2) Main Functions of Inferential Statistics:

The main function of Inferential statistics is to use a random sample of data to make inferences and predictions about the population.

The common methodologies used in Inferential statistics are finding the confidence intervals for the parameters, testing of hypothesis and analysis of Variance.

3) Use of Statistics in Biological sciences:

Inferential statistics is more useful in biological Sciences as we need to predict the results based on Samples.

Many biological courses of study require a course of biostatistics that covers concepts of randomized trials and hypothesis testing.