STATISTICAL INFERENCE AT WORK: STATISTICAL<br>PROCESS CONTROL AS AN EXAMPLE9

To characterise statistical inference in the workplace this paper compares a<br>prototypical type of statistical inference at work, statistical process control (SPC),<br>with a type of statistical inference that is better known in educational settings,<br>hypothesis testing. Although there are some similarities between the reasoning<br>structure involved in hypothesis testing and SPC that point to key characteristics of<br>statistical inference in general, there are also crucial differences. These come to the<br>fore when we characterise statistical inference within what we call a "space of<br>reasons" - a conglomerate of reasons and implications, evidence and conclusions,<br>causes and effects.