Chapter 1
Data, Statistics, and Decisions
IN THIS CHAPTER
Introducing statistical concepts
Generalizing from samples to populations
Testing hypotheses
Looking at two types of errors
Statistics, first and foremost, is about decision-making. Statisticians look at data and wonder what the numbers are saying.
R helps you crunch the data and compute the numbers. As a bonus, R can also help you comprehend statistical concepts.
Developed specifically for statistical analysis, R is a computer language that implements many of the analytical tools statisticians have developed for decision-making. I wrote this book to show how to use these tools in your work.
The Statistical (and Related) Notions You Just Have to Know
The analytical tools that R provides are based on statistical concepts in the remainder of this chapter. These concepts are based on common sense.
Samples and populations
If you watch TV on election night, you know that one of the main events is the prediction of the outcome immediately after the polls close (and before all the votes are counted).
The idea is to talk to a ...
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