How does Statistics come in?

From "A Primer of Ecological Statistics" by Nicholas J. Gotelli and Aaron M. Ellison.

"Using statistics to test hypotheses is only a small facet of the scientific method, but it consumes a disproportionate amount of our time and journal space. We use statistics to describe patterns in our data, and then we use statistical tests to decide whether the predictions of an hypothesis are supported or not. Establishing hypotheses, articulating their predictions, designing and executing valid experiments, and collecting, organizing, and summarizing the data all occur before we use statistical tests."