NATURE, SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF STATISTICS
Introduction
and Meanings:
Statistics is as old as human
civilization and has the old history of development. The word statistics is
derived from the Latin word “status” or the Italian word “statista” or the
German word “Statistik” each of which means a political state. In ancient times
the governments used to collect the information regarding the population and
property of wealth of the country- the former enabling the government to have
an idea of the manpower of the country (to safeguard itself against external
aggression, (if any) and the latter providing it a basis for introducing new
taxes and levies.
Statistics has been defined differently by different authors from
time to time. In ancient times statistics was confined only to the affairs of
the state but now it embraces almost every sphere of human activity.
·
Statistics is
classification of facts representing the conditions of the people in a
state-especially those facts which can be stated in numbers or in any other
tabular or classified arrangement. This definition confines statistics only to
the data pertaining to the state is inadequate as the domain of statistics is
much wider (Webster).
·
Statistics is numerical
statements of the facts in any department of enquiry placed in relation to each
other (Bowley).
Types
of Statistics:
·
Descriptive Statistics
– It deals with the description and summarization of data and information in
such a way so as to make it more usable
·
Inductive
Statistics – It draws inferences about the population from the information
contained in the sample which is only a part of the population and thus we pass
from the particular to the general.
Application of Statistics
In early days statistics was mainly concerned with reduction of
large amounts of observed data to the point where general trends become
apparent. At the same time, emphasis in many sciences turned from the study of
individuals to the study of the behavior of aggregates of individuals.
Statistical methods were found suitable for such studies, aggregate data
fitting consistently with the concept of a population.
·
Statistical Science
has wide applications in Dairy production, processing and management. In dairy
production, the productive and reproductive performance of various
breeds/species of animals is carried out through various statistical measures.
For example, age at first calving, body weight, lactation length, dry period,
inter-calving period etc. are closely monitored for best production performance
of female animals.
·
In the field of Animal
Nutrition, many experiments have been devised to discover the significance of
various vitamins, proteins, diets in the different phases of animal production.
Similarly, production parameters like daily/monthly lactation yield, fat, SNF,
protein and other minerals as well as microbiological parameters in milk are
closely monitored for getting best quality and safe milk for human consumption.
·
In dairy processing,
various value added dairy products are developed for which proportions of
ingredients are required so as to get least cost product mix which fulfills
certain minimum requirements.
·
Agricultural
engineering, which combines the practices of engineering and agriculture has
also benefited greatly from the use of statistical methods.
·
In dairy management cost of calf rearing
maintenance of animals is required to be worked out. Similarly cost of milk
production for various categories of animals is also required to be computed
across different seasons/regions etc. taking into consideration various fixed
and variable costs that enter into cost. There is also requirement for computing
cost of processing of milk into various dairy products.
·
Similarly there is
also requirement to monitor milk production, utilization and marketed surplus
across various categories of producers and consumers and also assess the demand
and supply of milk and milk products. All these aspects require employment of
various statistical techniques to achieve the desired objectives.
Distrust of Statistics
Some of the reason for the existence of such divergent
views regarding the nature and function of Statistics are as follows:
·
Figures are innocent,
easily believable and more convincing. The facts supported by figures are
psychologically more appealing.
·
Figures put forward
for arguments may be inaccurate or incomplete and thus might lead to wrong
inferences.
·
Figures, though
accurate, might be moulded and manipulated by selfish persons to conceal the
truth and present a distorted picture of facts to the public to meet their
selfish motives.
It may be pointed out that Statistics neither
proves anything nor disproves anything. It is only a tool which when rightly
used may prove extremely useful and if misused, might be disastrous.
Limitations of Statistics
·
It does not deal with
individual measurements.
·
It deals with
quantitative characteristics and cannot be used for qualitative data.
·
Statistical results
are true only on an average.
·
It is only one of the
methods of studying a problem.
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