American Institute of Certified Planners (AICP) Practice Exam

Which aspect does 'Descriptive Statistics' NOT cover?

1. Summarizing data characteristics

2. Providing predictions

3. Analyzing population characteristics

4. Illustrating data patterns

The correct answer is: Providing predictions

Descriptive statistics is focused on summarizing and organizing data to provide insights into its characteristics, such as central tendency, variability, and distribution patterns. It allows planners to visualize and describe the basic features of data sets, helping to illustrate trends and patterns within the data. Providing predictions, on the other hand, falls under the realm of inferential statistics, which makes inferences and predictions about a population based on a sample of data. Inferential statistics often involves modeling and hypothesis testing, which are not part of the functions of descriptive statistics. In contrast, summarizing data characteristics, analyzing population characteristics, and illustrating data patterns are all fundamental tasks of descriptive statistics. These tasks help in understanding the context and distribution of data without extending the analysis to predictive conclusions.