INTODUCTION

Statistical methods involved in carrying out a study include planning, designing, collecting
data, analysing, drawing meaningful interpretation and reporting of the research findings.
The statistical analysis gives meaning to the meaningless numbers, thereby breathing life
into a lifeless data. The results and inferences are precise only if proper statistical tests are
used. This article will try to acquaint the reader with the basic research tools that are utilised
while conducting various studies. The article covers a brief outline of the variables, an
understanding of quantitative and qualitative variables and the measures of central
tendency. An idea of the sample size estimation, power analysis and the statistical errors is
given. Finally, there is a summary of parametric and non-parametric tests used for data
analysis.

Uses of Statistics

The uses of statistics are varied. While the focus of this paper is not on reviewing the various uses of
statistics, attempts are made to highlight a few of them. Statistics is used in various areas of human
endeavour ranging from government, sports, research, to education, and in fact in everyday life. It
can be conveniently said that life will be meaningless without statistics. This is why the misuse of
statistics is a colossal blow. Some uses of statistics are discussed below:

1. Government: Statistics is utilized in government by making judgments about health,

populations, education, and much more. For instance, government needs to know the size and
distribution of its population, unemployment rate, and how healthy its population is. Are there
prevailing diseases, epidemic or pandemic, the rate of their spread, intervention (if any).
Government needs to know how many schools it has and at what levels: pre-primary, primary,
second ary, and tertiary; the capacity of the schools; available and needed facilities, school
enrolment, number of teachers and students/teacher ratio, funding, and many more. Statistics helps
the government to make and modify policies and curricula for better teaching and learning.

2. Prediction: Statistics is used for prediction of climatic change, weather upheavals, natural
disasters, the amount of rainfall and areas prone to flood, and other conditions that may influence
human life. Armed with these predictions, preparations are made in advance to forestall or manage
the events when they eventually occur. If interventions are needed: the nature, quantity and quality
of such interventions are informed by statistics. Statistics also helps in disaster management: Rescue
teams always use statistics in getting the population data, services, infrastructure present in the
affected area, and what will be needed for effective rescue mission.

3. Sports: In sports management, statistics is used to aid decision making. Data from past
experiences are analysed, and the right decisions made to avoid ugly experiences of the past.
Managers of football and other teams chose tactics with the help of statistics by comparing tactics of
other teams and attendant performances.
4. Research: Data collection in research uses sample (a proportion of the population, which
itself is a statistical measure), makes use of validation and reliability of the instruments of data
collection. Collation, presentation and analysis of data are all statistical techniques. Research uses
statistical measures of mean, standard deviation, and variance to answer research questions. Making
comparisons in research on similarities and differences, drawing conclusions about populations
based on sample results are techniques of statistics. Observations in research are recorded using
statistics and decisions based on the recorded data provide better results than decisions based on
intuition or gut feelings. Observations are analysed with descriptive statistics and generalized to the
wider world using inferential statistics. Research covers areas of purchasing, production, capital
investment, long-term development, quality control, human resource development, recruitment and
selection, marketing, credit risk assessment or financial forecasts. These are made possible by the
use of statistical data and analyses.

5. Education: Students’ enrolment, carrying capacity of educational institutions,

learners/teachers’ ratio, and many other requirements of the learning environment are determined
by the use of statistics. Statistics allows educators to understand student performance using
descriptive statistics of mean, median, mode, standard deviation, percentiles, and inferential
statistics of correlation and regression. These statistics are used at every level of education. For
example, a principal can use descriptive statistics to monitor examination scores of students in an
entire school. Or a Department of Education can use corelation to compare the performance of
schools over time and regression to predict possible way to go. Also, statistics allows the comparison
of different teaching methods using hypothesis tests. Over all, statistics is used to enhance effective
teaching and learning with above applications.

6. Everyday Life: In modern times we cannot read books, newspapers and magazines, watch
television, drive a car, or generally converse, without being confronted by statistics –opinion polls,
death rates, unemployment rates, taxes, balance of payments, exchange rates, inflation rates,
election figures, and so on. Thus, life is almost meaningless without the use of statistics (use of
numbers to measure and analyse money, time, distance, rate, price, and so on). In fact, in today’s
world of information and communications technology, lack of appreciation of numbers and statistics
is not only an aberration but also a malady, indeed a deep-seated disorder. Thus, basic statistical
skills of collecting, storing, presenting, analysing and interpreting large quantities of information is
greatly advised.

7. Others: Statistics plays a critical role in agriculture in deciding the plant varieties, combination
of fertilizers, pesticides, densities, soil qualities, and growth of output. Without the use of statistics,
business and economics cannot make proper planning and policy. Marketing strategies are based on
some statistical data. Examination of climate change and environmental studies are made effective
by statistical data and analysis of weather and environment. Estimation of the population of a
country or community, per capita income, age distribution, health, and many more are made
possible by the use of Statistics.
Misuses of Statistics
Statistics consists of tests used to analyse data and make decisions. Imagine that someone has
decided what questions to ask, which group or groups to study, how the groups should be put
together or divided, which variables to focus on, and what are the best ways to categorise and
measure them, the next is what statistics to use. This gives one full control of the study, and which
ways to manipulate the study.Statistical tests provide the framework within which one can pursue
research questions. But such tests can be misused, either by accident or design, and this can result in
potential misinterpretation and misrepresentation. Misuses of statistics which lead to
misrepresentation and misinterpretation arise when a researcher alters scales to change the
distribution of data; focuses on certain variables and exclude others; ignores or removes high or low
scores which are considered inconvenient, so that data can be presented more coherently; and
presents correlation as causation.

Bias : Statistical bias is a term used to refer to stats that aren’t necessarily accurate as a result of
some kind of issue with the data. This could be a variable that was left out, observer bias, or funding
bias where one company paid for the study. As a small business owner, understanding and
compensating for statistical bias is an important part of e-commerce marketing.

What are examples of bias in statistics? Omitted variable bias is one of the most common examples
of bias in statistics. You can probably think of some data you’ve seen that was later invalidated
because it “didn’t take something into account.” For example, you can’t simply look at loading times
and other website performance metrics without considering differences in hardware, location, and
more. Funding bias is also common, especially in cases where a brand pays for a product comparison.

Inappropriate tests : Misleading statistics refers to the misuse of numerical data either
intentionally or by error. The results provide deceiving information that creates false narratives
around a topic. Misuse of statistics often happens in advertisements, politics, news, media, and
others.

Data Collection : Misuse of statistics also arises from data collection when the
researcher's personal preferences or beliefs affect how data samples are gathered instead of
using recommended methods of sample selection. In other words, the researcher adopts
data-collection methods that are unsuitable for the study. It must be noted that poor
sampling results in poor data giving rise to results that are inaccurate and misleading. Poor
data could also arise when survey questions are leading and loaded to elicit responses that
are inclined towards the beliefs of the researcher.

Overgeneralisation : Overgeneralisation is a misconception occurring when a

statistic about a particular population is asserted to hold among members of a group for
which the original population is not a representative sample. It is making a claim based on
very small evidence. It often occurs when information is passed through nontechnical
sources. Overgeneralisations are claims by researchers or authors that are so broad that
they can hardly be proved or disproved. Sometimes, overgeneralisation is made not by the
original researcher, but by others using the result, often interpreting the original result to
suit their present purpose. Real-life examples of overgeneralisation include (a) All birds can
fly; (b) Red roses cannot survive long winters because in my garden, two red roses died over
a long winter; (c) All Nigerian politicians are thieves because some Nigerian politicians have
looted the national treasury. Researchers use overgeneralisation for two basic reasons: To
create an allusion of authority, and to sway the opinion of readers. However, irrespective of
the motive of overgeneralisation, its effect as a misuse of statistics is far reaching. While
researchers are advised to avoid overgeneralisation, readers are encouraged to identify
issues of overgeneralisation and report them.