Descriptive and Inferential Statistics

Descriptive and Inferential Statistics

Joe Blow

HCS/465

June 19, 2013

Ms. Luck

Descriptive and Inferential Statistics

In the world of science and research there are various types of data collection. The scope of a research project is defined by how data is collected and what information is contained in the data. Two types of collection methods are descriptive and inferential statistics. Throughout this paper these two collection methods will be summarized, applied, and differentiated.

Descriptive Research

A goal of a scientific research study is to describe a situation, population, or phenomena. Descriptive research is simply a research method used to describe a given situation. This method is not used to predict an outcome, look at the cause, or examine the effect. Within the descriptive methods there are three main types of data collection; observation method, case study method, and survey method (Hale, 2011). 

The first of the methods that fall under descriptive research is the observational. This form of data collection observes human or animal behavior in the natural or a laboratory environment. The next method is a case study. This entails an in-depth study of an individual or group of individuals (Hale, 2011). This method should not be used to examine cause and affect of a behavior or situation because the scope is very narrow. The final method is survey in which a participant is asked a series of questions either in the form of an interview or questionnaire. Once the data or responses are obtained the researcher than describes the responses, this is the core problem with this method. The data can be swayed by a researchers pre-existing thoughts or beliefs (Hale, 2011). 

Inferential Research

Inferential research is used to infer a generalization or prediction. The primary use of this form of research is to obtain information from a sample population and infer that outcome onto the rest of the population ("Descriptive and Inferential...