ABSTRACT
The statistical approach involves a number of stages to which for remembrance' sake consonant names may be attached together with occasional subtitles. First, authentication or the verification of accuracy of the record. Second, mensuration or the summary measurement of frequencies and values. Third, classification or definition of units. Fourth, representation by index and sample, and Fifth, orientation. Treatises on statistical methods are inclined to be entirely devoted to the mathematical treatment of the frequencies or values of the data, without considering the circumstances under which the data were originally observed and collected, and the difficulties of their classification and representation. The sixth stage in the statistical approach is that of Interpretation or causal explanation. The limits of purely statistical generalization depend upon the question how many of the relevant conditions in the situation described are, or have an influence, numerically measurable, how many there are whose influence can only be judged by non-statistical expert knowledge of the field.
