| leo-j said: No I dont know anything about statistics |
in short - statistics is used when collecting data is impossible. there are hundered of millions of consoles out in the market so obviously no one will be able to ask every single person their playing habits. BUT, if you probe a small group (say a couple hundred) you can project those results to the whole population as long as you have an unbiased sample. Unbiased sample simply meaning the sample you have represents the entire population well (as oppose to representing one group more heavily than another).
This is why knowing the methodology of a statisic is so important. If this was (for intance) and internet poll the odds of the poll being accurate is low since it skews your sample population to those that are active internet users.
bottom line: any time you see a statistic you should first say to yourself "that's bullshit" and then ask "what was it you were telling me, i wasn't listening?"
