statistics and science research

[computerages]

hi every1~

 

I am doing a research project and someone has told me that a basic knowledge of stats would be required during the research. I am not certain how the knowledge of stats would help me and how it has anything to do with my sci. reserach project.

 

FYI, my research project is based on the study of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, and Lithium Ion Batteries. So far the previous research papers I've read have nothing to do with stats. But is there anything that I may encounter in the future?

 

Thx.

[s pepperchin]

What are you researching exactly? Are you collecting quantitaive or qualitative Data?

[badchad]

In a VERY basic sense you'll use statistics to determine whether the difference between two groups is "real"; or whether two or more sets of data are different due to chance and variability. Usually, you are comparing a treatment group(s) to a control.

 

However, statistics can get very complex (depending on what you're comparing, how many groups, how large the difference is etc.). Thus, a basic knowledge of statistics is required for most fields of science.

[swansont]

Out of curiosity, what do NMR and Li-ion batteries have to do with each other?

 

Anyway, usually when an experimental result is given, there will be an associated error, (e.g. [math]X \pm \Delta X[/math]) which is related to the standard deviation.