Math 146: Morgan-Krick, V. (Fall 2022): Is it a dataset or statistics?

When first starting statistics work, it can be a challenge to differentiate between datasets and statistics. This page is meant to reiterate what you have been learning in class, from the perspective of someone who is also learning! Let's get into it together!

Datasets are raw, unprocessed collections of data. The datasets that you will be working with are often presented as a spreadsheet grid (Excel for example). Datasets all on their own are not really conveying any actual information, until we process that data. We refer to this processed data as "statistics" which can be presented as a chart or graph of some type, and sometimes in narrative form.

Below is an image. The dataset is on the left, and the statistical information is on the right.

~from the Quantitative Learning Environmental Project, Seattle Central College.

Descriptive text for the image above. Lead content of fish from the Spokane River. On the left are two spreadsheet showing a dataset headed with 3 types of fileted and whole fish: trout, salmon and suckers, under which there are columns showing lead levels numbers presented in decimal form. On the right there is a bar graph resulting from the statistical analysis of the data set, showing lead levels of the three kinds of fish in their whole and fileted forms.