Statistics? Ooh…sorry!
Believe it or not, that is the response that I got 98% of the time when I mentioned that I was taking a statistics class. And, truth be told, that was my attitude to this required course for the past few years as well. I couldn’t have been more surprised. I have discovered a new language of communication and expression, one which I am apt to continue learning.
Statistics speak of realities, and skillfully translate disconnected pieces of information into stories. Those stories are then legible and recognizable in so many different languages. The background, different elements of the context, and predictions of the future. Statistics is practical, but it is also highly philosophical. It is founded upon certain agreed upon truths which allow statisticians to make inferences based on a small sample size of data.
Before I took this class, I felt quite opposed to reducing people’s stories to statistics, and did not appreciate the value of this field. What I have learned is that it is an incredibly useful tool in giving power to those stories, not only those of people, but those of the environment. Of gathering together different stories and identifying trends and commonalities between them. Of understanding the context in a totally different way. Statistics is a tool in analysis and understanding.
This is a reminder to me in just how varied the skills which are available as we attempt to understand one another and the world in which we live more completely. As I apply the concepts I learned in statistics to my field of study, which has come to be defined as the relationship between sustainable livelihoods, food security, and health (specifically nutrition and maternal health) in a global context, I see how useful this kind of depth of analysis will be in asking the right questions, and connecting different sets of data together to see patterns and trends, to understand not only what is, but why it is. To see relationships between different, seemingly unconnected, parts of the picture.