What is statistics?

Statistics simply means numerical data, and is field of math that generally deals with
collection of data, tabulation, and interpretation of numerical data. It is actually a form of

mathematical analysis that uses different quantitative models to produce a set of

experimental data or studies of real life.
What is the importance of statistics in psychology?
Statistics in psychology has many roles. It can indicate what is most likely going to happen,
what has the highest probability of occurring, and what is typical or normal for a particular

group. It can also help a psychologist to make sense of the vast amount of information
collected though research. Statistics allow psychologists to present data in ways that are
easier to comprehend. Visual displays such as graphs, pie charts, frequency distributions,
and scatterplots allow researchers to get a better overview of data and look for patterns
they might otherwise miss.
The field of statistics is concerned with collecting, analyzing, interpreting, and presenting data and in the
field of psychology, statistics is important for the following reasons:
Reason 1: Descriptive statistics allow psychologists to summarize data related to human performance,
happiness, and other metrics.
Reason 2: Regression models allow psychologists to quantify the relationship between variables related to
human performance, happiness, and other metrics.
Reason 3: Hypothesis tests allow psychologists to compare the effectiveness of different methods,
techniques, and procedures on human performance, happiness, and other metrics.
Who introduced statistics in psychology?
Pierre-Simon Laplace (1774) made the first attempt to deduce a rule for the combination of
observations from the principles of the theory of probabilities. He represented the law of
probability of errors by a curve. He deduced a formula for the mean of three observations.

What type of statistics is used in psychology?

There are two types of statistical methods used in psychology: descriptive and inferential.
Descriptive statistics describes and summarizes a set of data, which, as a result, helps
psychologists to better understand general trends in the data. Common forms of descriptive
statistics include graphs, tables, and summary statistics.

Inferential statistics, on the other hand, provides the opportunity for researchers to draw
conclusions from the data that descriptive statistics describes. Inferential statistics are very
important in a study. It actually analyzes the data from a sample so inferences (or conclusions)
can be made about the population. It enables psychologists to draw conclusions about how
variables relate to each other, the likelihood that changes in one variable can cause changes in
another, and whether the data supports or rejects their hypothesis.