Scientific data are not taken for museum purposes; they are taken as a basis for doing something. If nothing is to be done with the data, then there is no use in collecting any. The ultimate purpose of taking data is to provide a basis for action or a recommendation for action. The step intermediate between the collection of data and the action is prediction.
Journal of the American Statistical Association On a Classification of the Problems of Statistical Inference Volume 37, Number 218, June 1942 (p. 173)
