Biostatistics

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 Techniques or procedures for interpreting, displaying, analyzing and making
Statistics
decisions based on data.

Characteristics or information, usually numerical, that are collected through

Data
observation. (Note: data is plural and datum is singular)

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Statistics deals
Biostatistics: A branch of statistics directed toward applications
with data in health science and biology.

Raw data: data object that hasn’t undergone thorough processing,

either manually or through automated computer software.

Population: The complete set of elements being studied.

Sample: A subset of a population whose properties are studied to

gain information about the whole.

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Data Classification

1. Qualitative data (non-numerical data) where mathematical operations are meaningless like colors,
names, nationalities, ranks, gender, …

2. Quantitative data (numerical) where mathematical operations are meaningful like: body mass,
heights, temperatures, lengths, duration of seizure, …

Remark

Quantitative data can be classified into:

1. Discrete data can assume countable or finite number of values.

2. Continuous data can take any one of an uncountable number of values in an interval.

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 Classification Quantitative data are either grouped (within intervals) or ungrouped
of (discrete)
Quantitative Data

Frequency table: a method for organizing both qualitative and quantitative data.

Organizing
Frequency table consists of:
Data 1. Classes
2. Tally marks
3. Frequency denoted by f.

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Example: Put the following data about blood types in a frequency table.
A, B, AB, A, O, A, B, AB, O, A, AB, A, O, B, B, A, A, A, O, A, A.

Solution:

Example: The following table contains the age of death in day for 78 cases of sudden infant death
syndrome during 1976 − 1977.

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Remark:

For grouped data:

1. In these tables, each observation is put in only one class.

2. In the class [𝐿, 𝑈] , 𝐿 is the lower limit and 𝑈 is the upper limit.
𝑚𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑜𝑏𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛−𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑜𝑏𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
3. 𝐶𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ =
𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠

4. This length should be rounded from above to the accuracy unit of the observation.
5. Cumulative frequency is obtained by adding sequential frequencies together.
𝐿+𝑈
6. Midpoint=
2
𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑙
7. Relative Frequency =
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦
1 1
9. Actual class= [𝐿 − ,𝑈 + ]
2 2

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 Number of classes in
The number of class intervals is the closest integer k
a frequency table
to 1 + 3.322(𝑙𝑜𝑔10 𝑛)
where n is the total number of observations.

Example: The following data are the age of 30 people, rounded to the nearest year, who have been
discharged from a general hospital last Friday
51 70 79 75 55 25 38 74 54 72 37 15 56 17 77 43 16 15 72 92
30 24 46 47 46 38 81 49 45 25

i. Put the data in a frequency table.

ii. Find the midpoint of each class.
iii. Write the cumulative frequency of each class.
iv. Write the relative frequency of each class.

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Solution: n= 30
In order to put the above data in an ordered array we just list the measurements from the smallest to
the largest: 15 15 16 17 24 25 25 30 37 38 38 43 45 46 46 47 49 51 54 55 56
70 72 72 74 75 77 79 81 92.

Number of classes= 1 + 3.322 𝑙𝑜𝑔10 30 = 5.906 ≈ 6

92−15
Class length= = 12.33 ≈ 13
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Accuracy= 1 unit

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Example: Consider the following cumulative frequency distribution.

a) What is the length of each class?

b) Find the relative frequency of the second class.
c) Find the proportion of observations that are greater than
or equal to 16 and less than or equal 33.

Solution:
a) Class length= 15 − 10 + 1 = 6
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b) Relative frequency of the second class = = 0.14
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c)

7+25+4
Proportion of observations= = 0.72
50

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 Graphical Representation
of Data

Visual display of data and statistical results is more often and effective than presenting data in tabular
form. We will focus on these five ways: Bar Chart, Histogram, Pie chart, Polygon and Ogive (CFC).

Bar Chart

Rectangles spaced out with equal spaces between them and having equal width. The height of each bar
corresponds to the frequency of a particular observation.

It is used to display the category of data.

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Example: A survey of 145 people asked them "Which is the nicest fruit?" draw a bar chart to illustrate
their distribution.

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Example: In a biostatistics test, 28 students got these grades:

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 Series of rectangular bars with no spaces between them. It divides the entire
Histogram
range of values into a series of intervals.

It is used with sets of continuous data like heights, weights, ….

Example: The histogram below shows the heights (in cm) distribution of 30 people. What is the frequency
table?

Solution:

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 Straight lines connecting set of points which represent the midpoints of
Polygon intervals. It is used with sets of continuous data like heights, weights, ….

Example: Construct a frequency polygon using data given in the table.

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 1. Measures of central tendency
Descriptive Statistical
measures
2. Measures of variation (dispersion)

Measures of Central Tendency (location) for ungrouped data

Measures of central tendency describe where the data are located. The most common measures of
central tendency are: Arithmetic mean, median, mode.

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 Arithmetic Mean
Arithmetic mean:

σ𝑛 𝑥 𝑥 𝑥 + …+ 𝑥𝑛
Let 𝑥1 , 𝑥2 , …, 𝑥𝑛 be a sample of size 𝑛. The sample mean (average) is: 𝑋 = 𝑖=1 𝑖 = 1+ 2
ത
𝑛 𝑛

Examples:

1. What is the mean of the following numbers: 9, 3, 7, 3, 8, 10, 2 ?

9+3+7+3+8+10+2
Answer: 𝑋ത = =6
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2. If the marks of five students (out of 100) are: 96, 94, 72, 52, 56, find the average of their marks.

96+94+72+52+56
Answer: 𝑋ത = = 74
5

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Example: Use the frequency table of Apgar scores of 100 low birthweight infants to evaluate the average
of birthweights.

Solution:
0 6 + 1 1 + 2 3 + 3 4 + 4 5 + 5 10 + 6 11 + 7 23 + 8 24 +(9)(13)
𝑋ത = = 6.25
100

Properties of arithmetic mean

1. Uniqueness: for a given set of data there is one and only one mean.
2. Simplicity: it is so easy to compute the mean of any sample.
3. The value of each data item has an influence on the mean, thus the mean is affected by extreme
values, this makes the mean, in some cases, not a good representative of the tendency of the values of
the majority of the data.
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 Median

Let 𝑥1 , 𝑥2 , …, 𝑥𝑛 be a sample of size 𝑛, and 𝑥(1) , 𝑥(2) , …, 𝑥(𝑛) be the sorted sample. The sample median is:

𝑥 𝑛+1 𝑖𝑓 𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑑𝑑
2
Median = ൞𝑥 𝑛 + 𝑥 𝑛+1
2 2
𝑖𝑓 𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛
2

Example: Find the median of each of the following data sets:

a. 20, 17, 56, 16, 29, 38, 7
b. 20, 17, 56, 32

Solution:
a. 7 , 16 , 17 , 20 , 29 , 38 , 56 ⟹ 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛 = 20
20+32
b. 17 , 20 , 32 , 56 ⟹ 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛 = = 26
2
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Example: Find the median for data in the following frequency table:

Solution:
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Total frequencies is 13 ⟹ = 6.5 ≈ 7.
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So, the median is 𝑥7 = 15

Properties 1. Uniqueness.
of Median 2. Simplicity.
3. Unlike the mean, it is not drastically affected by extreme values.

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 Mode

The most frequent observation.

Remark

1. There may be more than one mode.

2. Mode may not exist.

Example: Find the mode of the following data sets:

a. 8, 2, 4, 6, 8, 2, 1, 3, 6, 7, 8.
b. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

Solution:
a. 8
b. Mode does not exist.
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 Dispersion statistics summarize the scatter or spread of
Measures of Variation (dispersion)
data. Most of these functions describe deviation from a
particular location.

The most common measure of dispersion is range, variance,

standard deviation, interquartile range and interpercentile
range.

Range

Range = 𝑚𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑜𝑏𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 − 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑜𝑏𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛.

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Example: Find the range for the following list of values: 13,18,13,14,16,14,21,13

Solution:
Range = 𝑚𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑜𝑏𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 − 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑜𝑏𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = 21 − 13 = 8

Example: If Jordan's hottest temperature was 39.2° in 2018, and the range in temperature is 40.7°,
what was the coldest temperature?

Solution:
Range = 𝑚𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑜𝑏𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 − 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑜𝑏𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
40.7° = 39.2° − 𝑚𝑖𝑛
𝑚𝑖𝑛 = −1.5°

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