Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation and presentation of data. It deals with all aspects of data, including the planning of data collection including the design of experiments. (Click the pictures to open or download the presentations)

 

In the final stages of a study we need to decide on how to convey the meaning from the analysis. We have interpreted the results and we wish to visually display the data. This section gives some tips and ideas on how to display data. We typically need to show a summarised aspect of the results with plots of means. We also need to make sure the relaibility of the data is expressed by using standard errors or confidence intervals.

A  plot or graph of the results is a lot easier to convey complex messages compared to using  a table of results.

 

The word statistics, when referring to the scientific discipline, is singular, as in "Statistics is an art." This should not be confused with the word statistic, referring to a quantity (such as mean or median) calculated from a set of data, whose plural is statistics ("this statistic seems wrong" or "these statistics are misleading").

 

Data Presentation Sites