What inferences can be made from data using inferential statistics?

Inferential statistics

Dale Clifford
Internet Stack
2 min readAug 29, 2023

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Getting Started

Inferential statistics is a crucial tool for anyone who wants to make data-driven decisions.

Whether you’re a business owner, a marketer, a researcher, or a student, understanding inferential statistics can help you make sense of data and draw meaningful conclusions from it.

Inferential statistics is a branch of statistics that deals with making inferences about a population based on a sample of data.

It involves using probability theory and statistical models to draw conclusions about a population based on a sample of data.

How To

  1. Define the problem: Start by defining the problem you want to solve. What question are you trying to answer?
  2. Collect data: Collect data that is relevant to the problem you want to solve. Make sure the data is representative of the population you are interested in.
  3. Analyze the data: Use descriptive statistics to summarize the data and inferential statistics to draw conclusions about the population.
  4. Interpret the results: Interpret the results of your analysis and draw conclusions about the population.
  5. Communicate the results: Communicate your results in a clear and concise manner, using visual aids if necessary.

Best Practices

  • Make sure your sample is representative of the population you are interested in.
  • Use statistical software to perform your analysis.
  • Check your assumptions before performing your analysis.
  • Communicate your results in a clear and concise manner.

Examples

Let’s say you are a marketer for a new coffee shop and you want to know if your customers prefer your coffee over your competitor’s coffee.

You could conduct a survey of your customers and ask them to rate your coffee and your competitor’s coffee on a scale of 1 to 10.

You could then use inferential statistics to draw conclusions about the population of coffee drinkers based on your sample of customers.

After collecting the data, you could use descriptive statistics to summarize the data and inferential statistics to draw conclusions about the population of coffee drinkers.

You might find that the average rating for your coffee is higher than the average rating for your competitor’s coffee, and that this difference is statistically significant.

You could then communicate your results to your team and use this information to make data-driven decisions about your marketing strategy.

Originally published at Smart Data Kit.
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