Descriptive Statistics

Descriptive statistics are used to quantitatively summarize and describe the salient features of a collection of data and information. These are different from inferential and inductive statistics in that they aim to summarize a sample rather than use the data to learn about the population that it is intended to represent. This means that descriptive statistics, unlike inferential statistics, are not developed using probability theory. For example, a study that uses descriptive statistics will present information on the demographics of the sample population.