Introduction to Statistics

What is Statistics?

There is sometimes confusion about the meaning and usefulness of statistics as you will see from some of the following quotes. So let's try to find out what is statistics really.



Quotations from some famous users of Statistics

“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics.” Mark Twain (19th century US writer).



This quote illustrates that many people think that Statistics is a way of using lots of numbers to confuse people and so to hide the truth of a situation. But that is only what a bad statistician does. Good statisticians try to simplify a large amount of data to make it understandable to the general public and reveal the truth from a complicated situation.






“You cannot feed the hungry on statistics.” David Lloyd George (20th century British politician).



Here the opinion is being expressed that Statistics is a waste of time and resources. The speaker thinks it would be better to start his social or political programme without first doing proper research to find out what the needs of the people are and how to target the limited resources most effectively. So Statistics provides governments, businesses and other agencies with vital help in making carefully reasoned decisions based on accurate and unbiased information. This is especially important in times when there is a public health emergency, like the spread of the novel corona virus.

"Statistics are our yardstick; they are our compass, without which we are but lost. It is important that the analysis and dissemination of statistical information be relevant, reliable and user-oriented.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is not just statistics we need, what we need are accurate statistics, what we need are timely statistics.

"Government cannot plan effectively without accurate and timely statistics; investors cannot make decisions without proper statistics. Business entities use statistics as the foundation for planning and strategising."  Francis Nhema, (21st century Zimbabwean politician).

“To understand God’s thoughts we must study Statistics, for these are the measure of His purpose.” Florence Nightingale (19th century British health care innovator).

This quote shows that we can increase our knowledge of physical, economic and social issues and better understand what is happening in the world by the use of Statistics. Florence Nightingale developed many new statistical techniques in her work in a war zone, trying to stop the spread of diseases. A new temporary four thousand bed hospital in London, UK, has been named Nightingale Hospital.



  

“Statistics are like a bikini; they don’t reveal everything.” Steve Komphela, (soccer coach in South Africa).

So we must remember that although Statistics are very useful, they don’t tell us everything.