In 1914, Edith Abbott was asked by the Committee on Crime, as
charged by the Chicago City Council, to report on crimes in
Chicago. Her major contribution to the field of statistics
was
Demonstrating that it was useful to present particular variables
as either categorical or continuous depending on the audience
Always reporting where the statistics came from and the quality
of the data
Presenting graphical depictions of the data in a way that
clearly narrated the results
Creating novel statistical techniques for identifying areas of
the city with spikes in crime