Overall, statistics can be divided into two main categories. They are descriptive and inferential. They are different, but both are important in the social sciences. Descriptive and inferential statistics can help social scientists gain insight into a certain population or sample of a population. The crux of the differences between descriptive and inferential statistics lies in how they are defined, how they are applied by social scientists, and the care a social scientist must take in their use. Descriptive statistics were defined by C. Urdan (2010) as “statistics used to describe the characteristics of a distribution of scores” (p. 10). Added to this definition is the fact that descriptive statistics “summarize the data in order to describe what happened in the sample” (Allua & Thompson, 2009). Descriptive statistics are literally about that population or sample. An example of this is saying that "suicide is a significant factor [in premature deaths of people with mental illnesses], accounting for 30-40% of premature deaths." 60 percent die from preventable or treatable diseases” (Garey, 2013). As you can see, descriptive statistics do not draw any conclusions about the data collected, they are limited to what is collected. Inferential statistics are “statistics derived from samples of data, which are used to make inferences about the population from which the sample was drawn” (Urdan, 2010, p. 11). Inferential statistics “refers to the use of sample data to draw conclusions (i.e., make inferences) about the characteristics of the larger population that the sample is intended to represent” (Urdan, 2010, p. statistics would say "9...... middle of paper ...... Scientists and the care a social scientist must take to use them correctly. It is important to know the distinctions between descriptive statistics and inferential, because without knowing the differences, a social scientist could run the risk of inappropriate use of the data collected. Appropriate use of data is essential to becoming a valuable social scientist and helps advance the field of. Social Sciences. Allua, S. and Thompson, CB (2009). Air Medical Journal, 28(4), 168-171. (2010). New York, NY: Taylor & Francis Group. (August 10, 2013). . (2013). Psychiatric News. doi: 10.1176/appi.pn.2013.3b27