ABSTRACT
Throughout all the preceding chapters the conscious aim has been to present, as simply as possible, the basic elements of a wide range of statistical techniques. All of these techniques are standard ones and have been widely applied in many fields of study, where they form an essential tool in the analysis of numerical data. Without such techniques these fields of study would not have progressed as steadily and effectively as they have done. They have allowed the conclusions of experimental or observational studies to be presented in a form that is common to all fields that attempt to express their results quantitatively. Furthermore, the use of these methods helps to reduce the element of subjective judgement in so many ways, thus ensuring that from the same set of data different workers will arrive at roughly the same conclusion. In this way it is possible for studies to be repeated so that cross-checking of results can be effected, while it also means that the mental reasoning by which a certain conclusion is arrived at is clearly apparent to all later workers. The gains thus include greater clarity, objectivity, orderliness and precision.
