STAT110

Biostatistics
Lecturer: Sabriye Topal KARANFİLLER
Office: ST249
Email: [email protected]
Textbook:
Wayne W. Daniel, BIOSTATISTICS: Basic Concepts and Methodology for the
Health Sciences, 9th ed., Wiley
TOPICS
• Introduction to basic statistical definitions. Measurement and
Measurement Scales. Sampling and Statistical Inference. The Scientific
Method and The Design of Experiments.
• Classification of data. Descriptive Statistics: Measures of Central Tendency
and Dispersion.
• Elementary Properties of Probability. Calculating the Probability of an
Event. Bayes' Theorem.
• Probability Distributions of Discrete Variables: The Binomial and the
Poisson Distribution.
• Continuous Probability Distributions: The Normal Distribution and
applications.
• Sampling Distributions. Distribution of the Sample Mean. Distribution of
the Difference between two Sample Means.
• Confidence Interval for a Population Mean. The t-Distribution.
• Confidence Interval for the Difference between two Population Means.
Confidence Interval for a Population Proportion.
• Determination of Sample Size for Estimating Means. Confidence
Interval for the Variance of a Normally Distributed Population.
• Hypothesis Testing: A Single Population Mean.
• Hypothesis Testing: The Difference between two Population Means.
Paired Comparisons.
• Factorial Experiment.Regression Analysis.
• Regression Analysis and Correlation.
 What is Statistics?
Definition:
• Statistics is the science of data.
• It involves
• collecting,
• classifying,
• summarizing,
• organizing,
• analyzing, and
• interpreting numerical information.
• The methods of statistics allow scientists and engineers to design
valid experiments and to draw reliable conclusions from the data
they produce.
What is Statistics?
Two Processes
Describing sets of data

1. Collecting data
Eg. Survey, experiments Drawing conclusions (making estimates,
decisions, predictions, etc. about sets of data
2. Presenting data based on sampling)
Eg. Tables & charts
3. Characterizing data Data Analysis
Eg: Average, variance Decision Making
Statistics plays a major role in the improvement of quality of any
product or service. Some areas that use statistical methods :
• Manufacturing
• Development of food product
• Computer software
• Energy sources
• Pharmaceuticals
 Fundamental Elements of Statistics
Depending on the purpose of the study, experiment and investigations are done by the scientists and they
collect data

• 1. Experimental unit
• the sources of each measurements is called a Unit. (an object (person, thing, event...etc.) upon which data is
collected.)
• It is usually an object or a person.
• 2. Population
• is the entire collection of objects or outcomes about which information is sought.
• 3. Sample
• is a subset of a population, containing the objects or outcomes that are actually observed.
• 4. Variable
• characteristics or property of an individual population unit.
 Types of Data
• Quantitative data are measurements that are recorded on a naturally
occurring numerical scale.
• Measured on a numeric scale.
• Number of defective items in a lot.
• Salaries of CEOs of oil companies.
• Ages of employees at a company.
• Number of cancer patitents in Nicosia

• Qualitative data are measurements that cannot be measured on a natural

numerical scale; they can only be classified into one of a group of categories
• Classified into categories.
• College major of each student in a class.
• Gender of each cancer patitent in Nicosia.
• Method of payment (cash, check, credit card).
Collecting Data
Ways of Obtaining Data
1. Data from a published source
book, journal, newspaper, Web site
2. Data from a designed experiment
researcher exerts strict control over units
3. Data from a survey
a group of people are surveyed and their responses are recorded
4. Data collected observationally
units are observed in natural setting and variables of interest are recorded,
(there are no interaction with units)
 Applications of statistics:

Our analysis of data is used in order to describe is the analysis of data (the “sample”) in order to
the situation from which it is drawn to make predictions, generalizations, or other
summarize the information that have been inferences about a larger set of data (the
found in a set of data, and to interpret it or “population”).
present it clearly.
Descriptive Statistics
1. Involves:
• Collecting Data
• Presenting Data
• Characterizing Data

2. Purpose
• Describe data
 Inferential Statistics

1. Involves
• Estimation
• Hypothesis Testing

2. Purpose
• Make decisions about population characteristics
Four Elements of Descriptive Statistical
Problems
1. The population or sample of interest
2. One or more variables (characteristics of the population or sample
units) that are to be investigated
3. Tables, graphs, or numerical summary tools
4. Identification of patterns in the data
Five Elements of Inferential Statistical
Problems
1. The population of interest
2. One or more variables (characteristics of the population units) that
are to be investigated
3. The sample of population units
4. The inference about the population based on information contained
in the sample
5. A measure of reliability for the inference
EX: Data Type
TYPES OF DATA
Remember that data can be classified in two main groups;
1. Qualitative Data
• non-numerical in nature
• measured by classification only
• meaningfully ordered categories identify ordinal data (best to worst
ranking, age categories (young/older/mid ages) )
• categories without a meaningful order identify nominal data (political
affiliation, industry classification, ethnic/cultural groups)

Ex: 1. Gender (female, male)

2. Medication (aspirin, Tylenol, Advil, none)
3. Tree vigor (Healthy, sick, dead) (Ordinal)
4. Religion (Buddhist, Islamic, Jewish, Christian, Hindu, none, etc.)
5. Countries (Iraq, Iran, Israel, Zimbabwe, Canada, etc.)
2. Quantitative Data
• indicate either how many or how much
• measured on a naturally occurring scale
• quantitative data are always numeric
• ordinary arithmetic operations are meaningful only with quantitative
data

• Ex: Age, GPA, Salary, Cost of books this semester,

 Classification of Quantitative data:
Continuous: measured data (rational numbers, real numbers)
A variable that can take any value is a “ continuous variable”.
Ex: height, weight, temperature,

Discrete: count data –

• A variable that can take only specific values is a “discrete variable”
Ex:
1. Number of petals on flower
2. Number of pets at home
3. Number of children in family
Ex: State whether or not each of the following variables is
continous or discrete
• time - lifetime of the bulb continous

• number of dogs in your city discrete

• number of course that every student register discrete

• weight of baby at birth continous

Sampling
As mentioned, statistical methods are based on the idea of analyzing a
sample drawn from a population.
Sampling is necessary if inferential statistics are to be used.
• No matter which data collection method is used, data is collected
from a sample of a population. This sample must be representative of
the population.
• A representative sample exhibits characteristics typical of those
possessed by the population of interest.
• The best sampling methods involve random sampling.
There are many different random sampling methods, the
most basic of which is simple random sampling.