Paleostatistics
Encyclopedia
Paleontology
often faces phenomena so vast and complex they can be described only through statistics
.
First applied to the study of a population in 1662 statistics is today a basic tool for natural sciences practitioners, and a solid acquaintance with methods and applications is essential for communication purposes within the scientific community.
Thanks to the diffusion of powerful low-cost computers and the availability of many software tools for statistical analysis, data elaboration is now open to a much wider users pool than before.
Statistics offers to paleontology the tools needed to describe and summarize data (base statistics -- average
, standard deviation
, distribution
s), to stress and characterize relations existing between two sets of data, with reference to one or more taxonomic groups (correlation
analysis, multiple regression, cluster analysis) and finally allows the testing of ipotheses and the development of new ipotheses from the available data (factor analysis
, correspondence analysis
).
A general skill in applying these few methods is enough to set up a basic analysis of both quantitative or semi-quantitative data, as a complement to a traditional palaeontological research.
Statistical analysis alone on the other hand does not prove anything and its worth is directly dependent on the quality of the data used. Adopting a statistical approach to the data does not push back the paleontologist, and to the countrary turns the paleontologist's experience into the one essential component in a well-developed statistical analysis.
Paleontology
Paleontology "old, ancient", ὄν, ὀντ- "being, creature", and λόγος "speech, thought") is the study of prehistoric life. It includes the study of fossils to determine organisms' evolution and interactions with each other and their environments...
often faces phenomena so vast and complex they can be described only through statistics
Statistics
Statistics is the study of the collection, organization, analysis, and interpretation of data. It deals with all aspects of this, including the planning of data collection in terms of the design of surveys and experiments....
.
First applied to the study of a population in 1662 statistics is today a basic tool for natural sciences practitioners, and a solid acquaintance with methods and applications is essential for communication purposes within the scientific community.
Thanks to the diffusion of powerful low-cost computers and the availability of many software tools for statistical analysis, data elaboration is now open to a much wider users pool than before.
Statistics offers to paleontology the tools needed to describe and summarize data (base statistics -- average
Average
In mathematics, an average, or central tendency of a data set is a measure of the "middle" value of the data set. Average is one form of central tendency. Not all central tendencies should be considered definitions of average....
, standard deviation
Standard deviation
Standard deviation is a widely used measure of variability or diversity used in statistics and probability theory. It shows how much variation or "dispersion" there is from the average...
, distribution
Probability distribution
In probability theory, a probability mass, probability density, or probability distribution is a function that describes the probability of a random variable taking certain values....
s), to stress and characterize relations existing between two sets of data, with reference to one or more taxonomic groups (correlation
Correlation
In statistics, dependence refers to any statistical relationship between two random variables or two sets of data. Correlation refers to any of a broad class of statistical relationships involving dependence....
analysis, multiple regression, cluster analysis) and finally allows the testing of ipotheses and the development of new ipotheses from the available data (factor analysis
Factor analysis
Factor analysis is a statistical method used to describe variability among observed, correlated variables in terms of a potentially lower number of unobserved, uncorrelated variables called factors. In other words, it is possible, for example, that variations in three or four observed variables...
, correspondence analysis
Correspondence analysis
Correspondence analysis is a multivariate statistical technique proposed by Hirschfeld and later developed by Jean-Paul Benzécri. It is conceptually similar to principal component analysis, but applies to categorical rather than continuous data...
).
A general skill in applying these few methods is enough to set up a basic analysis of both quantitative or semi-quantitative data, as a complement to a traditional palaeontological research.
Statistical analysis alone on the other hand does not prove anything and its worth is directly dependent on the quality of the data used. Adopting a statistical approach to the data does not push back the paleontologist, and to the countrary turns the paleontologist's experience into the one essential component in a well-developed statistical analysis.