ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts covered in the preceding chapters of this book. The book discusses the two-way process of seeking and assimilating the information that the world around is prepared to give – the data. It presents erratically between the two aspects but they must come to blend in readers’ minds so that their practical implications control the course of an investigation. The data are the shadow and, though description of that shadow can be of interest, it is the understanding of the source that is the object of statistical analysis. The aims of any programme of research should be fully specified at the outset. In the application of its methods, statistics is both an art and a science. But the roots of the subject itself are in the realm of cognitive philosophy. Modern developments in artificial intelligence are bringing a new light to past perceptions of how the human mind interacts with nature.
