what s the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics 
descriptive statistics are used to describe or summarize the characteristics of a sample or data set such as a variable s mean standard deviation or frequency inferential statistics employ any number of techniques to relate variables in a data set to one another an example would be using correlation or regression analysis these can then be used to estimate forecasts or infer causality who uses statistics statistics are used widely across an array of applications and professions statistics are done whenever data are collected and analyzed this can range from government agencies to academic research to analyzing investments 