Lynn UniversityLynn Library
Skip to Main Content

Psychology & Counseling

Statistics from the Library

Statistics Online

Statistics v. Data

In everyday conversations, data and statistics are often used interchangeably. In academia, these words have specific meanings.

Statistics

A statistic will give a quick answer to "how much" or "how many"; it provides an interpretation or summary of raw data. 

  • statistical tables, charts, and graphs
  • reported numbers and percentages in a table

Data

Data is the raw data from which statistics are created. It is individual pieces of information (variables) collected from a research study, observation, experiment, or survey. 

  • Datasets
  • Machine-readable data files, data files for statistical software programs