Data

The American Statistical Association defines statistics as, “the science of learning from data, and of measuring, controlling and communicating uncertainty” (American Statistical Association, 2023). The methods you learn throughout this textbook, and the EPSY 5261 course, will help you to learn from data and to measure, control, and communicate about uncertainty.

An important learning goal of statistics is therefore to understand the vocabulary and ideas related to data. To this end, in Chapter 4 you will learn about the structure of data and attribute classification. You will also learn how to judge the quality of data including questions you should ask about the data.

American Statistical Association. (2023). ASA newsroom. Website. https://www.amstat.org/asa-newsroom