Statistical and Quantitative Methods

In statistics, the sample maximum and sample minimum, also called the largest observation, and smallest observation, are the values of the greatest and least elements of a sample. They are basic summary statistics, used in descriptive statistics such as the five-number summary and seven-number summary and the associated box plot. The minimum and the maximum value are the first and last order statistics, often denoted X(1) and X(n), respectively, for a sample size of n., easily obtained by sorting in the order of increasing value. If there are outliers, they necessarily include the sample maximum or sample minimum, or both, depending on whether they are extremely high or low. However, the sample maximum and minimum need not be outliers, if they are not unusually far from other observations. Statistical process control uses sampling and statistical methods to monitor the quality of an ongoing process such as a production operation. This book documents the most statistical and quantitative methods is currently applied by social work researchers and describes issues and techniques that accompany specific applications.