Introduction to Statistics and Biometry

Lecture Number 1

September 19, 2016

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Outline of Presentation

1 Definition of Statistics

2 Definition of Biometry

3 Branches of Statistics

4 Definition of Basic Terms used in Statistics

5 Types of Variables and Data

6 Types of Data Sets

7 Parametric and Non-Parametric Statistics

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Definition of Statistics
Statistics is a very broad subject, with applications in a vast number
of different fields.
Originating as a science of statehood, statistics has found applications
in areas such as Economics, Engineering, Business, Sociology,
Psychology, Planning, Production, Education, Medicine, Agriculture,
Forestry and Ecology.
To date, there is no other human sphere where statistics cannot be
applied.
Statistics may be broadly defined as follows:

Statistics is a branch of mathematics which is concerned with scientific

methods for collecting, organising, summarising, presenting and analysing
data as well as deriving valid conclusions from the data and making
reasonable decisions on the basis of this analysis.

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Definition of Statistics...Cont’d
Statistics may also be defined as a set of scientific principles and
techniques that are useful in reaching conclusions about populations
and processes when the available information is both limited and
variable.
In simple terms, statistics is the science of learning from data .
We approach the study of statistics by considering the four steps in
learning from data:
1 Collection of data - it is the first step and this is the foundation upon
which the entire data set lies. Careful planning is essential before
collecting the data.
2 Presentation of the data - the mass data collected should be presented
in a suitable, concise form for further analysis.
3 Analysis of the data - the data presented should be carefully analysed
for making inferences such as measures of central tendencies,
dispersion, correlation, regression etc.,
4 Interpretation of the data - the final step is drawing conclusions from
the data collected. A valid conclusion must be drawn on the basis of
analysis.
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Definition of Biometry

The word Biometry may be viewed as comprising of two words, ”bio-”

which simply implies - connected with life and living things and
”metric” which is associated with a system of measurement.
Nevertheless, Biometry may be defined as follows:
Definition of Biometry
Biometry is the application of statistics in the biological sciences such as
Agriculture, Forestry, Ecology, Wildlife Biology, Animal Science, Medicine
and Pharmacy and so on.The subject is concerned with the design of
research studies (experiments and surveys), data collection and
management, data analysis and interpretation in order to address issues in
biological systems.

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Why should you study statistics?
We hardly talk without making reference to numbers, rates or
confidence.
All the statements with reference to numbers, rates or confidence are
meant to garner support for some assertions.
One can conclude that we are living in a world of numbers.
Thus, even a rudimentary knowledge of statistics will make you better
able to evaluate statistical claims made by reporters, weather
forecasters, radio and television advertisers, manufacturer’s claims,
political candidates, government officials, and other persons who may
use statistics in the information or arguments they present.
Statistical procedures are basic to research - which you will be
expected to conduct before completing your studies. You may also be
called on to conduct research or interpret research findings in your
field after completion of studies.
In everyday affairs, decisions are made based on the available data or
information at hand.
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Branches/Types of Statistics
Statistics is sometimes divided into two main areas depending on how
data are used. The two areas are:
1 Descriptive Statistics
2 Inferential Statistics

Descriptive statistics consists of methods for collection, organising,

summarising and presentation of data. Descriptive statistics are typically
presented graphically, in tabular form (in tables), or as summary statistics
(single values).

Inferential statistics consists of generalizing from samples to populations,

performing estimations and hypothesis tests, determining relationships
among variables, and making predictions. Inferential statistics uses
probability.

We will now define some of the basic concepts or terms used in

statistics - some of which we have mentioned in our definitions so far!
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Definition of Basic Terms used in Statistics

Population - is a collection of all subjects (human or otherwise) that

are of interest or being studied. A population can be infinite or finite.
Sample - any subset or group of subjects selected from a population
of interest.
Parameter - a numerical or descriptive measure of a population. It is
a fixed value and is usually unknown.
Statistic - a numerical or descriptive measure of a sample. A statistic
varies from sample to sample. Unlike a parameter, a statistic is
known or can be determined.
Generally, a given population parameter corresponds to a sample
statistic.
In general, we use Greek or capital letters for population parameters
and lower case Roman letters to denote sample statistics.

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Definition of Basic Terms used in Statistics..Cont’d

Estimate - a sample statistic estimates a given population parameter.

It is generally not possible, or very difficult, to calculate the value of a
parameter directly. Thus, a sample statistic is calculated to
correspond to a given parameter.
Variable (Variate) - is a characteristic or attribute that changes or
varies over time and/or for different individuals or objects under
consideration.
For example, body temperature is a variable that changes over time
within a single individual; it also varies from person to person.
Observation - this is a record of each subject in the sample, e.g.,
measurement

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Types of Variables and Data

Data - are the values (measurements or observations) that the

variables can assume.
The variables whose values are determined by chance are called
random variables.
A collection of data values forms a data set. Each value in the data
set is called a data value or a datum.
Thus, to gain knowledge about seemingly haphazard situations,
statisticians collect information for variables, which describe the
situation.
In nature, different sorts of variables are encountered and thus it’s
desirable to distinguish among them as illustrated in the Figure on the
next slide.

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Types of Variables and Data

Figure: Types of Variables and Data

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Types of Variables and Data

Qualitative variables are variables that can be placed into distinct

categories, according to some characteristic or attribute. That is, a
qualitative variable describes a characteristic or attribute of an
individual or object. It is a non-numeric entity.
Thus, a qualitative variable has states or forms, which can be
described, categorized, classified, or qualified. e.g. gender, species.
1 Ordinal - deals with relative differences; e.g. high, medium, low
2 Nominal/Categorical - associated with some quality or attribute which
the variate posses. e.g. sex of an organism, name of species, colour of
timber, type of vehicle.
Quantitative - variable where data represents the amount or quantity
of something and measurement is made over a range of values. Age,
weight, height, volume, prices, costs, sales, sizes, etc., are all
quantitative variables.

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Types of Variables and Data

A quantitative variable may be continuous or discontinuous i.e.

discrete.
1 Discrete - variables assume values that can be counted. Only certain
values are possible (usually consecutive integers), e.g number of: trees
in a plot, timber, insects in an insect trap, fish in an aquarium, animals
in a quadrant etc.
2 Continuous - variable can assume an infinite number of values between
any two specific values. They are obtained by measuring. They often
include fractions and decimals.
Sometimes a new variable may be created as a function of existing
variables and/or by applying mathematical functions. Such kind of
variables are referred to as derived variables.
Examples of some common derived variables include: Ratios,
Proportions, Percentages and Rates.

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Types of Data

The type of statistical analysis that is appropriate for a particular

variable depends on the data type (scale of measurement) used for
the random variable.
There are four data types (or scales of measurement), namely
nominal, ordinal, interval and ratio.
(1) Norminal-scaled data - the nominal level of measurement classifies data
into mutually exclusive (non-overlapping), exhausting categories in
which no order or ranking can be imposed on the data.
F Examples are the labels sex, programme of study, species name, marital
status, religious affiliation, employment status, education-level .
F These labels are only used to identify an attribute of the variable.
F Under nominal measurements, ’numbers’ are simply to identify, classify,
categorize or distinguish.
F For instance, scores 0 for male and 1 for female are simply used to
identify, distinguish, categorize or classify the subject by sex.

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Types of Data
The next level of measurement is called the ordinal level.
(2) Ordinal-scaled data - ordinal level of measurement classifies data into
categories that can be ranked; however, precise differences between the
ranks do not exist.
F Ordinal data are generated from ranked responses (also generated from
a counting process).
F Examples include: grade (A,B,C,D), judging(first, second, third place),
rating scale(excellent, good, poor), ranking of players etc.
F The observation for each variable possesses characteristics of nominal
data in that each response rating is a label for excellent, good or poor
quality.
F In addition, the data can be ranked with respect to quality.
F An ordinal variate may also be represented by scores such as 1 = poor,
2 = fair, 3 = good, etc.
F Thus, ordinal scaled-data have the properties of nominal data but the
order or rank of the data is meaningful or important and data can be
numeric or nonnumeric

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Types of Data

The third level of measurement is called the interval level.

(3) Interval-scaled data - interval level of measurement ranks data, and
precise differences between units of measure do exist; however, there is
no meaningful zero. These are really numeric.
F This level differs from the ordinal level in that precise differences do
exist between units.
F Temperature is one example of interval measurement, since there is a
meaningful difference of 1◦ C between each unit, such as 35 and 36◦ C .
F IQ is another example of such a variable. There is a meaningful
difference of 1 point between an IQ of 109 and an IQ of 110.
F One property is lacking in the interval scale -there is no true zero.
F For example, IQ tests do not measure people who have no intelligence.
For temperature, 0◦ does not mean no heat at all.

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Types of Data
The final and highest level of measurement is called the ratio level.
(4) Ratio-scaled data - ratio level of measurement possesses all the
characteristics of interval measurement, and there exists a true zero. In
addition, true ratios exist when the same variable is measured on two
different members of the population.
F Examples of ratio scales are those used to measure height, weight,
area, age, time, money etc.
F Ratio scales have differences between units (1 inch, 1 kg, etc.) and a
true zero.
F In addition, the ratio scale contains a true ratio between values.
F For example, if one person can lift 20 kg and another can lift 10 kg,
then the ratio between them is 2 to 1 - put another way, the first
person can lift twice as much as the second person.

Note: there is not complete agreement among statisticians about the

classification of data into one of the four categories - e.g.some
researchers classify IQ data as ratio data rather than interval.Also,
data can be altered so that they fit into a different category.
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Types of Data Sets

Data sets can be: Univariate, Bivariate or Multivariate

(1) If you only measure or observe one variable per subject, the resulting
data set is univariate. For example, if you just measure height for each
of 10 selected students in class, the resulting 10 data values constitute
a univariate data set.
(2) If you measure or observe two variables per subject, the resulting data
set is bivariate. For example, you could measure height and weight for
each of 10 selected students in class.
(3) If you measure or observe three or more variables on the same subject,
the resulting data set is multivariate. For example, you could measure
height, weight and blood pressure for each of 10 selected students in
class.

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Why should you be concerned about types of variables and
data?

Knowledge about different kinds of variables and the data that they
generate is important because the methods used to describe data sets
depend on the type of data you have collected.
For each set of data that you collect, the key will be to determine
what type of data you have and how you can present them most
clearly and understandably to your audience!
There are many statistical methods or techniques for analysing data
and the choice depends, to a larger extent, on the type of variable(s)
and data at hand.

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Parametric and Non-Parametric Statistics
Common statistical methods for scientists/biologists fall into 2 classes
- parametric and non-parametric methods.
(1) Parametric Statistics - deals with statistical methods which assume
that sample data comes from a population that follows a probability
distribution based on a fixed set of parameters.
I It is the oldest and most often used by statisticians and researchers.
I It is characterized with making strict assumptions, which may not
always hold.
I Thus, it may not always be the most appropriate for analysing
biological data.
(2) Non-Parametric Statistics - covers statistical methods that do not
rely on data belonging to any particular probability distribution.
I It is most recent and not based on making stringent assumptions about
the data.
Thus, we have parametric and non-parametric statistics - much of our
learning will be devoted to parametric statistics.
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