Applied statistics
Major applications of statistics
Statistical analysis has been widely used for scientific research, drawing upon both published statistics and the results of surveys and laboratory experiments, and it has enabled major scientific advances to be made in subjects as diverse as medicine and criminology. It has also had operational uses in the fields of business decision-making. [1], climatology[2], metrology [3], cost/benefit analysis[4], and finance[5]. For those operational applications it has often had to draw upon theoretical knowledge and professional judgement, as well as upon records of past experience. In 1921 the distinguished economist Frank Knight observed that "business decisions ... deal with situations which are far too unique, generally speaking, for any sort of statistical tabulation to have any value for guidance. The conception of an objectively measurable probability or chance is simply inapplicable."[6] - and drew a distinction between risk, which can sometimes be estimated objectively; and uncertainty, which never can.
- ↑ Kent Holzinger: Decision Making Under Uncertainty: Statistical Decision Theory, University of Connecticut, 2007
- ↑ Climate adaptation: Risk, Uncertainty and Decision-making UK Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, May 2003
- ↑ Bayesian Metrology: Overview Topics, Statistical Engineering Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, May 2001
- ↑ Appraisal and Evaluation in Central Government, HM Treasury, UK Stationery Office
- ↑ David Harper: Introduction to Value at Risk, Investopedia.com
- ↑ Frank Knight: Risk, Uncertainty and Profit Part III, Chapter IV, paragraph 47, Boston, MA: Hart, Schaffner & Marx; Houghton Mifflin Co, 1921