We are numbered, analysed and surveyed throughout our lives, and the results are stored and analysed. We have in some senses become a part of the statistics that largely define modern society. All governments do, for reasons both laudable and questionable. Commercial organisations collect data to improve their economic prospects by offering the goods or services that potential customers seem to want. Researchers collect data to further their understanding of the workings of our social and economic systems.
Physical scientists collect data to further their understanding of how the world functions.
The latter is a matter of some philosophic importance, and we will also return to it shortly. Establishing the parameters of a system When we investigate natural and social systems we often start with no clear idea of how the system functions. In particular, we may have no strong impression of how the properties of the components of the system may vary. If we are studying river flows, for example, we may have no idea of the likely range of values to be expected in a particular system. We can get some idea from studies of rivers in similar environments, but this may not really be transferable due to some peculiarity in this location.