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Statistics in Business

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Statistics in Business
J. Maynard Dill
QNT/351 - Quantitative Analysis for Business
Monday 11th, March 2013
Edward Heinz, instructor

Statistics in Business

The general statements made by people every day such as smoking is bad for one’s health, or the green house affect is causing the polar ice cap to melt are assertions made that can be either proven or disproven. This is accomplished by the systematic gathering, sorting, reviewing, categorizing, examining, and interpreting of data to draw objective conclusions that can be trusted, (Lind, Marchal & Wathen, 2011). This is the general meaning of statistics. With this in mind it is important to understand that there are differing types and levels of statistics. There are two basic types of statistics, descriptive and inferential. Using the data collected in an enlightening fashion that allows for better understanding is referred to as descriptive statistics, (McClave, Benson & Sincich, 2011). Inferential statistics is explained by (McClave, et al, 2011) as the technique used to approximate a certain quality of that being sampled referred to as population. But the term population is used very broadly and can refer to many groups of animate or inanimate subjects. These two types are further defined by four different levels of data collection, nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. These will determine how the data is arrived at and presented.
Business is enhanced through statistics as the data collected on employee performance, market research, and competitor performance assists the company in controlling costs, retaining valuable employees, and improving performance.
After all is considered it is most important to remember that good decisions can only be made with the correct data. This data should not be tarnished as a result of bad ethical practices, slanted data from calculated questions giving

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