Principles of applied statistics In ideal sequence is defined specifying the progression of an investigation from the conception of one or more research questions to the drawing of conclusions. The role of statistical analysis is outlined for design measurement analysis and interpretation. 1.1 Preliminaries This short chaffpter gives a general account of the issues to be discussed in the book namely those connected with situations in which appreciable unexplained and haphazard variation is present. We outline in idealized form the main phases of this kind of scientific investigation and the stages of statistical analysis likely to be needed. It would be arid to attempt a precise definition of statistical analysis as contrasted with other forms of analysis