Chapter 3:

Descriptive Statistics

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 Learning objectives
At the end of this chapter, the student will be able to:
• Identify the different methods of data summarization
• Appreciate the properties and limitations of summary
values

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Descriptive Statistics

• Descriptive statistics describe, show, and summarize the basic features

of a data set found in a given study, presented in a Summary that
describes the data sample and its measurements.
• It helps analysts to understand the data better.
Cont..
• The best way to work with data is to summarize and Organize them.
• Measurements that have not been organized, summarized, or otherwise
manipulated are called raw data
• Raw data
I. Not organized
II. not Summarized
III. not manipulated.
 Descriptive measures
The ability to summarize the data by means of a single number called a
descriptive measures ( summarization measure).
Descriptive measures may be computed from the data of a sample or the
data of a population.
A descriptive measure Computed from the data of a sample is called a
statistic.
A descriptive measure Computed from the data of a a population is
called a parameter.
Types of Descriptive measures
Several types of descriptive measures can be Computed from a set of
data: However, the two important types are:-

• Data summery and organizing using numbers (Measures of Central

Tendency and Measures of Dispersion)
• Data summary and organizing using ( graphs, and tables)
Measures of Central Tendency (MCT)

• The measures of Central tendency or measure of

location is the type of measure useful for Summarizing
data defines the center, or middle, of measures of
Sample.
• measures of Central tendency Convey information
regarding the average value of a set of values.

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• The objective of calculating MCT is to determine a
single figure which may be used to represent the
whole data set.

• Since a MCT represents the entire data, it

facilitates comparison within one group or
between groups of data.

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Characteristics of a good MCT
A MCT is good or satisfactory if it possesses the
following characteristics.
1. MCT should be based on all the observations
2. It should not be affected by the extreme values
3. It should have a definite value
4. It should not be subjected to complicated and
tedious “boring” calculations
5. It should be stable with regard to sampling

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• The three most commonly used measures of
central tendency are:
• Mean
• Median
• Mode

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 Mean
The three types of mean are:-
 Arithmetic Mean
 Geometric mean
 Harmonic mean
The most familiar measure of central tendency is the arithmetic mean.
Since geometric and harmonic means are not covered in this lecture, the
arithmetic mean simply referred as the mean. (a in short the Arithmetic
mean deals with Biostatistics, while others deal with Calculous and
Algebra.“)
 1. The Arithmetic Mean
• Mean is the "average" which is obtained by adding all the
values in a sample or population and dividing them by the
number of values.

Mean = Sum of value = ∑ (value)

Sample size n

One measure of central location for this sample is the arithmetic

mean ; it is usually denoted by X .

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• In biostatistics, "grouped" and "ungrouped" data refer to different
ways of organizing and presenting data for analysis.
A.Ungrouped Data: ungrouped data consists of individual, raw
observations.
For instance:
Suppose you have the following ungrouped data representing the ages
of six individuals: 25, 30, 28, 35, 22, and 40, calculate the mean
(average) of this ungrouped data:
Answer: Mean= X  X / n
25 + 30 + 28 + 35 + 22 + 40 = 180
180 / 6 = 30.
So, the mean age of these individuals is 30 years.
 The heart rates for 10 patients were as follows (beats
per minute): 167, 120, 150, 125, 150, 140, 40, 136,
120, 150
What is the average heart rate for these patients?

The sample mean: X  X / n

X = (167 + 120 + 150 + 125 +
150+140+40+136+120+150)/10
= 1298/10 = 129.8 beats per minute

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b) Grouped data:
In calculating mean from grouped data, we assume that all values falling
into particular class are located at the mid point of interval. It is
calculated as follow:

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• Example: Compute the mean age of 169 subjects from
the grouped data.
Class interval Mid-point (mi ) Frequency (fi) mifi
10-19 14.5 4 58.0
20-29 24.5 66 1617.0
30-39 34.5 47 1621.5
40-49 44.5 36 1602.0
50-59 54.5 12 654.0
60-69 64.5 4 258.0
Total 169 5810.5

Mean = 5810.5/169 = 34.38 years

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 Properties of the Arithmetic Mean

• Uniqueness: for any given set of data there is one

arithmetic mean.
• Simplicity: easy to calculate and understand.
• Influenced by each value
• Greatly affected by the extreme values.

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2. Median
• The alternative measure of location is the median or
more precisely the sample median.
• The median is the value which divides the data set into
two equal parts.
a) Ungrouped data

• If the number of values is odd, the median will be the

middle value when all values are arranged in order of
magnitude.

• When the number of observations is even, there is no

single middle value but two middle observations.
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 Cont.

• In this case the median is the mean of these two

middle observations, when all observations have
been arranged in the order of their magnitude.

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 Example 1
Calculate the medium of this biostatistics exam result?
65 50 85 46 70 75 60
80 90
Solution:
 First arrange the sample in ascending order
46 50 60 65 70 75 80 85 90
 Since n = 9, it is Odd number
 Medium = n+1/2 9+1/2 = 5
 So, the medium is the 5th number which is 70

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 Example 2
• Calculate the medium of this Pharmacology exam
result?
65 50 85 46 70 75 60 80 90 40
Soluation:
• First arrange the sample in ascending order
40 46 50 60 65 70 75 80 85 90
• Since n =10, it is even number
• Medium = the average of (n/2) and n+2/2 =
10/2 and 10+2/2

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Cont.

• So, the medium is the 5th and 6th number.

Which are is 65 and 70 = 65+70/2 = 67.5
• The average of medium is 67.5

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 Exercise
A medical health researcher records the body temperature (°C) of
11 patients in a clinic during flu season. Dataset:
37.8, 38.1, 37.0, 36.7, 39.0, 38.4, 37.5, 36.5, 37.2, 38.2, 36.9
Calculate the median of this ungrouped data?
 Exercise
 Measuring the weight loss (in kg) for 10 participants after a 1-
month diet program. Data (Weight Loss): [2.5, 1.0, 3.0, 0.5, 1.5,
4.0, 2.0, 3.5, 1.8, 2.8] kg, compute the Median of this ungrouped
data?
 b) Grouped data

• In calculating the median from grouped data, we assume that the

values within a class-interval are evenly distributed through the
interval.
• The first step is to locate the class interval in which the median is
located, using the following procedure.
• Find n/2 and see a class interval with a minimum cumulative
frequency which contains n/2.
• Then, use the following formula.

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 n 
  Fc 
~
x = Lm  2 W
 fm 
 
where,
Lm = lower true class boundary of the interval containing the median
Fc = cumulative frequency of the interval just above the median class
interval
fm = frequency of the interval containing the median
W= class interval width
n = total number of observations
Example: Compute the median age of 169 subjects from the
grouped data.
n/2 = 169/2 = 84.5

Class Mid-point Frequency Cum. freq

interval (mi) (fi)
10-19 14.5 4 4
20-29 24.5 66 70
30-39 34.5 47 117
40-49 44.5 36 153
50-59 54.5 12 165
60-69 64.5 4 169
Total 169
Answer:
• Median = 29.5 + (14.5/47)10 = 32.58 ≈ 33
Properties of the Median

• There is only one median for a given set of data

• The median is easy to calculate
• Median is a positional average and hence it is not
drastically affected by extreme values
• It is not a good representative of data if the number
of items is small

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 3. Mode
a) Ungrouped data

• The mode is the most frequently occurring value in a set of data.

• It is not influenced by extreme values.
• It is possible to have more than one mode or no mode.
• It is not a good summary of the majority of the data.

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Example

Find the modal values for the following data;

a. 22, 66, 69, 70, 73. (no mode)

b. 1.8, 3.0, 3.3, 2.8, 2.9, 3.6, 3.0, 1.9, 3.2, 3.5
(mode = 3.0 )

c. 9, 2, 10, 9, 5, 10, 8, 4, 12 ( mode = 9 and

10)

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 b) Grouped data

• In find the mode of grouped data, we usually refer to the modal

class, where the modal class is the class interval with the highest
frequency.
Properties of Mode
• It is not affected by extreme values
• Often its value is not unique
• The main drawback of mode is that often it does
not exist

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Activity – 2_A