ABSTRACT
This chapter presents various methods and techniques for summarizing and interpreting data. The discussion begins with an examination of numerical descriptive measures including relative standing, central tendency, variability, skewness, and kurtosis and association. The chapter also provides an extensive overview of the properties of estimators including unbiasedness, efficiency, consistency, and sufficiency. From a practical perspective, the chapter discusses various visual representations of data including histograms, ogives, box plots, scatter diagrams, and bar and line charts. A discussion is also provided on the comparison of graphical versus numerical methods in presenting and interpreting data. An emphasis throughout the chapter addresses practical issues of properly representing the data to minimize the probability of misinterpretation.
