Which type of statistics allows researchers to generalize findings from a sample to a population?

• A. Descriptive Statistics
• B. Sampling
• C. Inferential Statistics
• D. Regression Analysis

Answer: (C)

Generalizing findings from a sample to a population is the work of inferential statistics. It uses the data gathered from a subset and, through probability theory, makes inferences about the broader group. This approach can estimate population parameters such as the average or a proportion and test hypotheses, all while quantifying uncertainty with confidence intervals or p-values.

Descriptive statistics, by contrast, only summarize the sample itself—things like the mean, median, variability, and distribution—without claiming anything about a larger population. The process of sampling describes how data are collected, but it isn’t a type of statistics that by itself generalizes to the whole population. Regression analysis is about modeling the relationship between variables and can be part of inferential work, but it isn’t the mechanism that allows generalization on its own.