Question

In Civil War History​ (June 2009), historian Jane Flaherty researched the condition of the U.S. Treasury on the eve of the Civil War in 1861. Between 1854 and 1857​ (under President Franklin​ Pierce), the annual​ surplus/deficit was plus​18.8, plus​6.7, plus​5.3, and plus1.3 million​ dollars, respectively. In​ contrast, between 1858 and 1861​ (under President James​ Buchanan), the annual​ surplus/deficit was minus​27.3, minus​16.2, minus​7.2, and minus25.2 million​ dollars, respectively. Flaherty used these data to aid in portraying the exhausted condition of the U.S. Treasury when Abraham Lincoln took office in 1861. Does this study represent a descriptive or inferential statistical​ study? Explain.

Answer 1

Statistics are divided into two main branches: the descriptive one that, as the name implies, seeks to describe the data through mathematical processes that allow them to be analyzed, find numerical patterns, representative data, group values ​​and summarize the information; the other branch is the inferential, which seeks to make estimates or predictions, inferences, on a set of data obtained, usually samples, making use of probabilities and distributions.

Answer

The study described is a descriptive study since it performs a series of mathematical processes on a set of data to be able to analyze them, find representative patterns and data, describe their behavior and make a comparison.