Importance of Statistics

Statistics is the basis of practical and real knowledge. Its definition.- Statistics is one of the branches of science math that focuses on working with data and information that are already numerical or that she herself is in charge of transforming into numbers. Statistics, although it is an exact extraction science, has a direct interference in questions for which its practical utility is much more understandable than what normally happens with others exact Sciences like math.

Unlike other branches of mathematics that have an important part of abstraction, statistics has Applications direct and concrete in real life since it takes the numbers and figures of different social phenomena such as for example unemployment, death rate, birth rate and many other data even more complexes.

We can say that the main function of statistics is precisely the collection and grouping of data of various types to build with they statistical reports that give us an idea about different and very varied topics, always from a quantitative point of view and not qualitative. This is very important to highlight since statistics then becomes a science that tells us about quantities (for example, how many people live in a country per square meter) but it does not give us direct information about the quality of life of those people. In this sense, we can say that there are several limitations since it does not allow us to know more than numerically aspects that require more complex and in-depth work.

The quantitative aspect as the center of statistics and its influence on improving the quality of life

However, despite what was mentioned in the previous paragraph, what is interesting about statistics as a science is that in many cases, the quantitative information that it provides us allows us to know a society much better at that level, for example how many people live in a country, what is the unemployment rate, what is the rate of indigence or poverty, what is the average level of education in that society, etc All these numerical data are used by those responsible for the State through its different agencies and secretariats. to later carry out different types of projects that have to do with improving that situation or maintaining it in the event that it is good.

In some cases, although not directly, statistics also allow us to infer (not know) the quality of life of a population since if we find high rates of unemployment, poverty and marginality we can assume that the quality of life is very low.

Statistics are useful not only in social aspects but also for all kinds of investigation scientific if one takes into account that the statistical data they are the result of several cases from which an average is taken. Thus, a statistic can be used for a scientific investigation by demonstrating that a certain percentage of the observed cases represented a particular result and not another. It is also used, for example, to find out about the planet we live on and give us information about the proportions of renewable resources, on the surfaces of the countries, the presence of certain biomes or not etc

Problems related to statistics and their misuse

As it happens with every human activity, the statistics are not perfect and can often present errors. In addition, since they are carried out by humans, we must also have a share of subjectivity and this is what causes some indices, when measured by different people with different political or economic positions, result in different numbers. This is very common, for example, regarding the possible results of political elections that mark also political decisions or even propaganda of some consultancies towards certain candidates.

In these cases, the statistics are misappropriated and fraudulent, which means a great ethical and moral problem with respect to an endless number of topics because it is considered that the public should receive information that is as truthful as possible, especially if it deals with sensitive issues and that can influence people's quality of life directly.

Photos: iStock. Drazen Lovric / jxfzsy