Statistics

Department of Statistics
In every branch of science, numerous research activities are prone to random change. Statistics plays an important role in such research activities. In order to make the officials more familiar with the capabilities of statistics, we have presented some of the topics and fields of application in statistics in simple language:
Judging Hypotheses: In some studies, the truth of hypotheses cannot be easily confirmed or refuted due to random changes. Statistical hypothesis testing methods are designed to judge hypotheses in a way that reduces the chance of error as much as possible. Each problem, depending on the type of data and hypotheses, must be judged on the basis of a specific statistical method, the diagnosis of which is highly specialized and requires precision. For example, any drug that wants to enter the market, after performing tests and data collection, will finally be judged in the form of a hypothesis test problem, and if it is confirmed by statistical methods, it will be allowed to enter the market.
The evaluation of employees’ performance in offices and organizations, their job satisfaction, and the existing problems so that to improve the performance of offices are done through the application of tests and statistical analysis.
•    Design and analysis of experiments: This specialized area enjoys an exceptional role in agricultural sciences;
•    Factor analysis: In statistical research, there sometimes are highly dependent variables. In such a case, the question that may arise in the researcher’s mind is the reason or factor that lies behind such correlations? One of the statistical tools designed to answer such questions is factor analysis. In effect, factor analysis is designed to discover the cause and effect relationships between variables and it is widely used in the social sciences and psychology;
•    Regression and prediction: In many scientific areas, there are related variables following no particular mathematical or physical law. Regression is a branch of statistical science that makes the prediction a costly variable in terms of time, energy, and financial resources possible through discovering the statistical relationship between them. This prediction, per se, is carried out on the basis of a number of other more accessible variables;
•    Time data analysis: Time data is data that is obtained through the observation of a phenomenon over time. Time correlation, often observed in such data, has enabled statisticians to calculate the state of the process in the future times by modeling this a priori information;
•    Spatial data analysis: Contrary to temporal data, spatial data is referred to interdependent data based on the location each in the space under experiment. The prediction of the amount of variables studied in non-sampled geographical coordinates is one of the most important goals of analyzing geostatistical data;
•    Classification and clustering: As examples of the application of statistical science, one can refer to the classification of: different species of medicinal plants, identification of suspected units which are susceptible to a particular disease or the possibility of fraud using data mining and cluster analysis;
•    Reliability: Failure of elements and systems causes malfunction of systems or imposes heavy costs. Accordingly, the concept of reliability is highly essential in providing an optimal maintenance strategy with the purpose of minimizing the cost of maintenance and repair of systems. Among the applications of this specialized field, the aerospace, military, chemical and nuclear industries can be mentioned;
•    Statistical quality control: ensuring the control and quality of factories and their production materials is another application of statistical quality control methods.

In a general classification, the users of specialized statistical analysis services are as follows:
•    Professors and researchers of universities and research institutes;
•    Students and researchers of different fields and at different levels;
•    Managers of governmental agencies, bodies and organizations;
•    Managers of private companies.
This wide range of users suggests that the presence of statistical experts have a significant impact on the accuracy in various scientific research, with the purpose of properly guiding, conducting research and offering statistical advice to researchers in such different fields as industrial engineering, computer engineering and information technology, life sciences, agriculture, management, economics, social sciences, geography, psychology and educational sciences., In order to carry out a research correctly and accurately, the prominent nineteenth-century statistician and mathematician, Ronald Fisher, emphasized the necessity to refer to statisticians and stated:
“To consult the statistician after an experiment is finished is often merely to ask him to conduct a post mortem examination. He can perhaps say what the experiment died of.”
According to the mentioned objectives and the numerous topics that can be proposed in statistics, statistical experts, relying on their statistical knowledge and mastering statistical software, are expected to be capable and skilled in the following areas:
•    Conducting specialized statistical analysis of information, laboratory data or data collected through questionnaire;
•    Offering counsel and statistical analysis for research projects and scientific articles;
•    Providing guidance in writing the statistical sections of theses, articles and research projects;
•    Preparing and implementing statistical plans and projects and producing statistics by means of different scientific methods of collecting information and data;
•    Carrying out theoretical and technical studies of research projects.