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Statistics vocabulary · Estimation and Inference

Inferential statistics

Meaning in statistics, with examples

/ˌɪnfəˈrenʃəl stəˈtɪstɪks/nounCore term

In statistics, inferential statistics means: Methods that use data from a sample to draw conclusions, with a measured level of uncertainty, about a larger population.

In Turkish: çıkarımsal istatistik

How it is used

Covers hypothesis tests, confidence intervals and most statistical models. Courses and textbooks are often split into a descriptive part and an inferential part. The verb is 'infer' and the noun 'inference': 'we can infer from the sample that…'.

Example sentences

  1. Inferential statistics only make sense if the sample was drawn properly.

  2. The second half of the course moves from descriptive to inferential statistics.

Common collocations

  • use inferential statistics
  • statistical inference
  • draw an inference
  • inferential test
  • descriptive statisticsNumbers, tables and charts that summarise the main features of a data set, such as its centre, spread and shape, without drawing conclusions beyond the data.
  • populationThe whole group of people, items or events that a study wants to draw conclusions about, for example all adults in a country or all invoices issued in one year.
  • sampleA smaller group selected from a population and actually studied, so that conclusions about the whole population can be drawn from it.
  • confidence intervalA range of values, calculated from sample data, that is likely to contain the true population value; a 95% interval comes from a method that captures the true value in 95% of repeated samples.
  • hypothesisA clear, testable statement about a relationship or difference that a study sets out to check with data, for example 'sleep loss slows reaction time'.

More terms: Estimation and Inference

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