Question

determine if the following is an example of descriptive or inferential statistics.
a hospital administrator wants to see if fewer mistakes are made if nurses are forced to take frequent breaks. after observing a sample of 300 nurses who were not forced to take frequent breaks and 400 who were forced to take frequent breaks, it was clear from the data that implementing a policy to force nurses to take frequent breaks will decrease the average number of mistakes.
∘ inferential statistics
∘ descriptive statistics

Explanation:

Descriptive statistics summarizes data (e.g., mean, median), while inferential statistics uses sample data to make inferences about a population. Here, the administrator uses samples (300 and 400 nurses) to infer that a break policy decreases mistakes for all nurses, not just the sample. So it's inferential.

Answer:

A. Inferential Statistics