MAT 210 Week 3 Assignment 1: The Foundation of Data-Driven Decisions

Assignment 1: The Foundation of Data-Driven Decisions Khanal 2 1. Explain the difference between descriptive and inferential statistical methods and give an example of how each could help you draw a conclusion in the real world. The key difference between descriptive and inferential statistics is the process and how the statistic for a particular group is being studied and the conclusive evidence provided through the study. An example of a real-world application would be a study that describes test scores in a particular class, and a graph that shows the frequency of students that get a resulted in a range of test scores. With descriptive statistics we can organize, summarize, and display the data and easily interpret the result to analyze any patterns, through measures of central tendency and measures of spreads, within the sample. With inferential data we can take the data from the sample and make predictions and generalizations about a population through estimating parameters and hypothesis tests. In our real-world example, the descriptive statistics would show that 72% of the class passed the test in the sample, with inferential statistics we can make an inference that majority of the population is likely to pass the test. 2. You would like to determine whether eating before bed influences your sleep patterns. Describe the steps you would take to conduct a statistical