Analytic and enumerative statistical studies
Open-knowledge reference entry
Analytic and enumerative statistical studies are two types of scientific studies:
In any statistical study the ultimate aim is to provide a rational basis for action. Enumerative and analytic studies differ by where the action is taken. Deming first published on this topic in 1942. Deming summarized the distinction between enumerative and analytic studies as follows:
Enumerative study: A statistical study in which action will be taken on the material in the frame being studied.
Analytic study: A statistical study in which action will be taken on the process or cause-system that produced the frame being studied. The aim being to improve practice in the future.
(In a statistical study, the frame is the set from which the sample is taken.)
These terms were introduced in Some Theory of Sampling (1950, Chapter 7) by W. Edwards Deming.
In other words, an enumerative study is a statistical study in which the focus is on judgment of results, and an analytic study is one in which the focus is on improvement of the process or system which created the results being evaluated and which will continue creating results in the future. A statistical study can be enumerative or analytic, but it cannot be both.
Statistical theory in enumerative studies is used to describe the precision of estimates and the validity of hypotheses for the population studied.
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