IBM Data Science Practice Test

What is a significant risk of relying solely on summary statistics?

1. No inherent dangers in summarizing results

2. Inferential statistics are unnecessary

3. Summary statistics may ignore overall distribution

4. Bayesian methods eliminate these risks

The correct answer is: Summary statistics may ignore overall distribution

Relying solely on summary statistics poses a significant risk because these statistics can obscure important information about the overall distribution of the data. Summary statistics, such as mean, median, and standard deviation, provide a condensed snapshot of the data but do not capture the full picture. For instance, they may mask the presence of outliers or skewness in the data, which can significantly impact the interpretation of the results. When only summary statistics are considered, one might overlook critical aspects of the data’s variability and shape, leading to potentially misleading conclusions. For example, two datasets can have the same mean and standard deviation yet differ vastly in their distribution characteristics, such as symmetry or presence of extreme values. By neglecting this information, decisions made based on summary statistics alone may be suboptimal or incorrect, underscoring the importance of examining the full distribution to gain a comprehensive understanding of the dataset.