What is statistics as numerical facts?

Answer 1

Your question is very broad, but I will attempt to answer it, without entering into a philosophical question of statistics vs. facts. I have attached to related links. Sometimes a simple question does not have a simple answer. This is one of them. The term "fact" may have different meanings depending the context in which it is used. Facts may be different when they are: 1) Legal 2) Historical 3) Mathematical and 4) Scientific. The focus of this discussion is scientific facts verses statistics. Legal: Usually the "facts of a case" are elements of a legal case which neither party contests. This discussion does not relate to the use of facts as a legal term. Mathematics: An idea is a conjecture before it is proved, and then it becomes a proved theorem. The laws of addition, multiplication, etc are rigorously established. I can say, it is a fact that 2+2 = 4. This discussion of facts does not relate to the mathematical use of the words proof, theorems, laws or facts. Historical: Events which are witnessed by many and recorded are historical facts. Scientific facts: Relates to certain phenomena that is so well established, like the force of gravity, that scientists consider there is a natural law of gravity. The equations governing many natural phenomena have numerical constants. Now, statistics resulting from the collection of data assists in the scientific study of phenomena or processes. If certain physical numerical constants are identified through scientific study and approximated by reliable statistics through observations or experiments that can be duplicated by others, they may be considered "known constants"- which I would prefer to "numerical facts." Sometimes, our known facts change with more data- like the mass of some of our planets. Why is this important? Certain branches of science like physics and chemistry can through controlled experimentation identify physical constants. However, in other branches of science, like environmental science, the physical mechanisms are complex and measurement data is both scarce and variable. In these cases, science is advanced a combination of reliable statistics and known physical constants. You may want to investigate more on areas like global warming, ozone depletion or many social problems to identify statistics verses known physical constants.