Need Help?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics
For statistics and data relating to labor and employment, take a look around The Bureau of Labor Statistics website.
- Bureau of Labor Statistics
This link opens in a new window
Official government source for statistics on employment and unemployment, prices and living conditions, compensation and working conditions, productivity and technology, employment projections, and international labor.
What are Statistics?
There are two definitions of statistics:
1. Science that deals with the collection, classification, analyses and interpretation of numerical facts or data.
2. Actual facts or data
Are you a statistic?
There are a lot of data about you out there:
- Social Security Number
- Zip Code
- Area Code
- Height
- Weight
- Library barcode number
- Grade point average
Statistics are used to either prove and support research or to refute it.
Two uses of statistics:
1. Descriptive statistics is the use of numbers to summarize information that is known about some situation
An Example: A random sample of students was taken in a large university campus in the city of Providence, Of those questioned, 15% used Five Star notebooks for their course note taking. This summary of the data taken explains that of the 140 students asked, 21 used the Five Star brand of notebooks
2. Statistical inference is the use of numbers to give numerical information abut larger groups than those from which the original raw data were taken.
An Example: 15% of university students in New England capital cities use Five Star Notebooks. This is an example of using the descriptive statistics to IMPLY that students in New England Cities use Five Star notebooks. We would be using this number to INFER something from this sample about a larger population for which we do not have complete information.