SISTECH COLLEGE OF SANTIAGO CITY, INC.

HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT

School ID No.:400830
Government Recognition
No.J-10, s.2018
Government Permit
No. S-138, s.2018 & S-009, s.2019

STATISTICS AND PROBABILITY

BASICS TERM IN STATISTICS

Definition of Basic Terms

The collection of respondents from whom one obtain the data is called the universe of the study. In our
illustration, the set of students of this Statistics and Probability class is our universe. But we must precaution
the students that a universe is not necessarily composed of people. Since there are studies where the
observations were taken from plants or animals or even from non-living things like buildings, vehicles, farms,
etc. So formally, we define universe as the collection or set of units or entities from whom we got the
data. Thus, this set of units answers the first Ws of data contextualization.
On the other hand, the information we asked from the students are referred to as the variables of the study and
in the data collection activity, we have 12 variables including Class Student Number. A variable is a
characteristic that is observable or measurable in every unit of the universe. From each student of the
class, we got the his/her age, number of siblings, weight, height, age of mother, usual daily allowance in
school, usual daily food expenditure in school, usual number of text messages sent in a day, most preferred
color, usual sleeping time and happiness index for the day. Since these characteristics are observable in each
and every student of the class, then these are referred to as variables.
The set of all possible values of a variable is referred to as a population. Thus for each variable we
observed, we have a population of values. The number of population in a study will be equal to the number of
variables observed. In the data collection activity we had, there are 12 populations corresponding to 12
variables.
A subgroup of a universe or of a population is a sample. There are several ways to take a sample from a
universe or a population and the way we draw the sample dictates the kind of analysis we do with our data.

Broad Classification of Variables

Following up with the concept of variable, inform the students that usually, a variable takes on several values.
But occasionally, a variable can only assume one value, then it is called a constant. For instance, in a class of
fifteen-year olds, the age in years of students is constant.
Variables can be broadly classified as either quantitative or qualitative, with the latter further classified into
discrete and continuous types (see Figure 3.3 below).
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 (i) Qualitative variables express a categorical attribute, such as sex (male or female), religion, marital
status, region of residence, highest educational attainment. Qualitative variables do not strictly take on
numeric values (although we can have numeric codes for them, e.g., for sex variable, 1 and 2 may refer to
male, and female, respectively). Qualitative data answer questions “what kind.” Sometimes, there is a sense
of ordering in qualitative data, e.g., income data grouped into high, middle and low-income status. Data on
sex or religion do not have the sense of ordering, as there is no such thing as a weaker or stronger sex, and
a better or worse religion. Qualitative variables are sometimes referred to as categorical variables.

(ii) Quantitative (otherwise called numerical) data, whose sizes are meaningful, answer questions such
as “how much” or “how many”. Quantitative variables have actual units of measure. Examples of quantitative
variables include the height, weight, number of registered cars, household size, and total household
expenditures/income of survey respondents. Quantitative data may be further classified into:
a. Discrete data are those data that can be counted, e.g., the number of days for cellphones to fail, the ages
of survey respondents measured to the nearest year, and the number of patients in a hospital. These data
assume only (a finite or infinitely) countable number of values.
b. Continuous data are those that can be measured, e.g. the exact height of a survey respondent and the
exact volume of some liquid substance. The possible values are uncountably infinite.
With this classification, let us then test the understanding of our students by asking them to classify the
variables, we had in our last data gathering activity. They should be able to classify these variables as to
qualitative or quantitative and further more as to discrete or continuous. If they did it right, you have the
following:

Special Note: For quantitative data, arithmetical operations have some physical interpretation. One can add
301 and 302 if these have quantitative meanings, but if, these numbers refer to room numbers, then adding
these numbers does not make any sense. Even though a variable may take numerical values, it does not make
the corresponding variable quantitative! The issue is whether performing arithmetical operations on these data
would make any sense. It would certainly not make sense to sum two zip codes or multiply two room numbers.
KEY POINTS
• A universe is a collection of units from which the data were gathered.
• A variable is a characteristic we observed or measured from every element of the universe.
• A population is a set of all possible values of a variable.
• A sample is a subgroup of a universe or a population.
• In a study there is only one universe but could have several populations.
• Variables could be classified as qualitative or quantitative, and the latter could be further classified as
discrete or continuous.
ACTIVITY
Which of the variables are qualitative or quantitative? Among the quantitative variables, classify them further as
discrete or continuous.
• highest educational attainment
• predominant hair color
• body temperature
• civil status
• brand of laundry soap being used
• total household expenditures last month in pesos
• number of children in a household
• number of hours standing in queue while waiting to be served by a bank teller
• amount spent on rice last week by a household
• distance travelled by the teacher in going to school
• time (in hours) consumed on Facebook on a particular day
Levels of Measurement
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Nominal level of measurement arises when we have variables that are categorical and nonnumeric or
where the numbers have no sense of ordering. As an example, consider the numbers on the uniforms of
basketball players. Is the player wearing a number 7 a worse player than the player wearing number 10?
Maybe, or maybe not, but the number on the uniform does not have anything to do with their performance. The
numbers on the uniform merely help identify the basketball player. Other examples of the variables measured
at the nominal level include sex, marital status, religious affiliation. For the study on the validity of the
statement regarding effect of breakfast on school performance, students who responded Yes to Question
Number 1 can be coded 1 while those who responded No, code 0 can be assigned. The numbers used are
simply for numerical codes, and cannot be used for ordering and any mathematical computation.

Ordinal level also deals with categorical variables like the nominal level, but in this level ordering is
important, that is the values of the variable could be ranked. For the study on the validity of the statement
regarding effect of breakfast on school performance, students who had healthy breakfast can be coded 1,
those who had unhealthy breakfast as 2 while those who had no breakfast at all as 3. Using the codes the
responses could be ranked. Thus, the students who had a healthy breakfast are ranked first while those who
had no breakfast at all are ranked last in terms of having a healthy breakfast. The numerical codes here have a
meaningful sense of ordering, unlike basketball player uniforms, the numerical codes suggest that one student
is having a healthier breakfast than another student. Other examples of the ordinal scale include socio
economic status (A to E, where A is wealthy, E is poor), difficulty of questions in an exam (easy, medium
difficult), rank in a contest (first place, second place, etc.), and perceptions in Likert scales.

Interval level tells us that one unit differs by a certain amount of degree from another unit. Knowing how
much one unit differs from another is an additional property of the interval level on top of having the properties
posses by the ordinal level. When measuring temperature in Celsius, a 10 degree difference has the same
meaning anywhere along the scale – the difference between 10 and 20 degree Celsius is the same as
between 80 and 90 centigrade. But, we cannot say that 80 degrees Celsius is twice as hot as 40 degrees
Celsius since there is no true zero, but only an arbitrary zero point. A measurement of 0 degrees Celsius does
not reflect a true "lack of temperature." Thus, Celsius scale is in interval level. Other example of a variable
measure at the interval is the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) of a person. We can tell not only which person ranks
higher in IQ but also how much higher he or she ranks with another, but zero IQ does not mean no intelligence.
The students could also be classified or categorized according to their IQ level. Hence, the IQ as measured in
the interval level has also the properties of those measured in the ordinal as well as those in the nominal level.

Ratio level also tells us that one unit has so many times as much of the property as does another unit. The
ratio level possesses a meaningful (unique and non-arbitrary) absolute, fixed zero point and allows all
arithmetic operations. The existence of the zero point is the only difference between ratio and interval level of
measurement. Examples of the ratio scale include mass, heights, weights, energy and electric charge. With
mass as an example, the difference between 120 grams and 135 grams is 15 grams, and this is the same
difference between 380 grams and 395 grams. The level at any given point is constant, and a measurement of
0 reflects a complete lack of mass. Amount of money is also at the ratio level. We can say that 2000 pesos is
twice more than 1,000 pesos. In addition, money has a true zero point: if you have zero money, this implies the
absence of money. For the study on the validity of the statement regarding effect of breakfast on school
performance, the student’s score in the quiz is measured at the ratio level. A score of zero implies that the
student did not get a correct answer at all.

The levels of measurement depend mainly on the method of measurement, not on the property measured.
The weight of primary school students measured in kilograms has a ratio level, but the students can be
categorized into overweight, normal, underweight, and in which case, the weight is then measured in an ordinal
level. Also, many levels are only interval because their zero point is arbitrarily chosen.
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Methods of Data Collection
Variables were observed or measured using any of the three methods of data collection, namely: objective,
subjective and use of existing records. The objective and subjective methods obtained the data directly from
the source. The former uses any or combination of the five senses (sense of sight, touch, hearing, taste and
smell) to measure the variable while the latter obtains data by getting responses through a questionnaire. The
resulting data from these two methods of data collection is referred to as primary data. The data gathered in
Lesson 2 are primary data and were obtained using the subjective method.
On the other hand, secondary data are obtained through the use of existing records or data collected by other
entities for certain purposes. For example, when we use data gathered by the Philippine Statistics Authority,
we are using secondary data and the method we employ to get the data is the use of existing records. Other
data sources include administrative records, news articles, internet, and the like. However, we must emphasize
to the students that when we use existing data we must be confident of the quality of the data we are using by
knowing how the data were gathered. Also, we must remember to request permission and acknowledge the
source of the data when using data gathered by other agency or people.
KEY POINTS
• Four levels of measurement: Nominal, Ordinal, Interval and Ratio
• Knowing what level the variable was measured or observed will guide us to know the type of analysis to
apply.
• Three methods of data collection include objective, subjective and use of existing records.
• Using the data collection method as basis, data can be classified as either primary or secondary data.

ACTIVITY
1. Identify the level of measurement for each of the following variable.
A.
• highest educational attainment
• predominant hair color
• body temperature
• civil status
• brand of laundry soap being used
• total household expenditures last month in pesos
• number of children in a household
• number of hours standing in queue while waiting to be served by a bank teller
• amount spent on rice last week by a household
• distance travelled by the teacher in going to school
• time (in hours) consumed on Facebook on a particular day
B.
a. number of family members who are working
b. ownership of a cell phone among family members
c. length (in minutes) of longest call made on each cell phone owned per month
d. ownership/rental of dwelling
e. amount spent in pesos on food in one week
f. occupation of household head
g. total family income
h. number of years of schooling of each family member
i. access of family members to social media
j. amount of time last week spent by each family member using the internet

“With GOD all Things are Possible”

Matthew 16:19
PREPARED BY: CHECKED/NOTED BY:

JELL E. DELA CRUZ, LPT MENARD R. SIBAYAN

SUBJECT TEACHER PRINCIPAL
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ACTIVITY
1. Identify the level of measurement for each of the following variable.
A.
• highest educational attainment (ordinal)
• predominant hair color (nominal)
• body temperature (interval)
• civil status (nominal)
• brand of laundry soap being used (nominal)
• total household expenditures last month in pesos (ratio)
• number of children in a household (ratio)
• number of hours standing in queue while waiting to be served by a bank teller (ratio)
• amount spent on rice last week by a household (ratio)
• distance travelled by the teacher in going to school (ratio)
• time (in hours) consumed on Facebook on a particular day (ratio)
B.
a. number of family members who are working (ratio)
b. ownership of a cell phone among family members (nominal)
c. length (in minutes) of longest call made on each cell phone owned per month (ratio)
d. ownership/rental of dwelling (nominal)
e. amount spent in pesos on food in one week (ratio)
f. occupation of household head (nominal)
g. total family income (ratio)
h. number of years of schooling of each family member (ratio)
i. access of family members to social media (nominal)
j. amount of time last week spent by each family member using the internet (ratio)

ACTIVITY
Which of the variables are qualitative or quantitative? Among the quantitative variables, classify them further as
discrete or continuous.
• highest educational attainment (qualitative)
• predominant hair color (qualitative)
• body temperature (quantitative: continuous)
• civil status (qualitative)
• brand of laundry soap being used (qualitative)
• total household expenditures last month in pesos (quantitative: discrete)
• number of children in a household (quantitative: discrete)
• number of hours standing in queue while waiting to be served by a bank teller (quantitative: discrete)
• amount spent on rice last week by a household (quantitative: discrete)
• distance travelled by the teacher in going to school (quantitative: continuous)
• time (in hours) consumed on Facebook on a particular day(quantitative: continuous)
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