The course introduces the use of descriptive statistics in an empirical research frame and familiarises students with the basics of statistical testing. The course starts by looking at the collection of the data and the presentation of the data in the form of a matrix. The methods of summarising and illustrating the information contained in the data are introduced in conjunction with statistics and frequency distributions. Determining correlations between variables is introduced with the help of conditional statistics, scatterplots and crosstabulation. Probability distributions and the basics of statistical inference are discussed. The basics of mean and independence tests, and regression and variance analysis are covered.