Why must I All I have to do is

learn Statistics? learn how to

compute the
answers?

What if I’m not How do I learn

very good at Statistics?
math?
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 Introduction

Definition of Statistics

Data & Variables

Types of variables

Measurement levels of variables

Population vs. Sample

Types of Statistics
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 *What is statistics?
*Statistics is the science of data.

*It involves:
Collection
Organization
Summarization
Presentation
Analyses
Interpretation of Data.

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 *Data & Variables
 Data are measurements/observations/facts of a single variable
or a set of variables which when collected, organized and
evaluated become information.

 An observation is an occurrence of a specific variable/data item

that is recorded about a data unit. It may also be referred to as
datum, which is the singular form of data.

 An observation may be numeric or non-numeric (categorical).

For example, 173 is a numeric observation of the data item 'height
(cm)', whereas ‘Guyana' is a non-numeric (categorical)
observation of the data item 'country of birth'.

 Typically (not always) data are collected in a raw or

unorganized format and are comprised
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 *Data & Variables
 A variable/data item is any characteristic or attribute (number
or quantity) of a data unit that can be measured or counted,
such as height, country of birth, or income.
(simply put, any trait that identifies different values or
attributes for different people or item)

 A data item is also referred to as a variable because the

characteristic may vary between data units in a population
(cross-sectional data) and may vary over time (time-series
data).

 A data unit is one entity (such as a person or business) in the

population being studied, about which data are collected. A
data unit is also referred to as a7 unit record or record.
 *Data & Variables
*For example; 'income' is a variable that can vary
between data units in a population (i.e. the people or
businesses being studied may not have the same
incomes) and can also vary over time for each data unit
(i.e. income can increase or decrease over time for the
same business or person).

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 *Types of Variables
Categorical (qualitative) vs. Quantitative
Categorical variables are those for which the values indicate
different groupings.
• They are classified in categories or groups.
• The groups are distinguished base on quality (attribute or
characteristics of someone or something).
• Mathematical operations not applicable. E.g political party
affiliation, gender, race etc.

Quantitative variables are those which are measured numerically;

refers to the number or amount of some quantity. E.g. speed, height,
no. of cars etc.
Discrete variables assume countable or finite values e.g. number of cars, age
at last birthday, the number of heads observed when a coin is tossed etc.

Continuous variables can assume uncountable, fractional, decimalized values

e.g. speed, mass, time etc.
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 *
• Which of the following is an example of a quantitative variable (also known
as a numerical variable)?
(A) Political party affiliation
(B) a person’s state of residence
(C) a person’s zip code
(D) a person’s height, recorded in inches
(E) Choices (C) and (D)
• Which of the following is an example of a categorical variable (also known
as a qualitative variable)?
(A) years of schooling completed
(B) college major
(C) high-school graduate or not
(D) annual income (in dollars)
(E) Choices (B) and (C)
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* Independent vs. Dependent Variables
*Independent variable: the variable that is systematically
manipulated by the researcher. It affects the changes in the
dependent variable.
*Dependent variable: The variable that is measured to determine
the effect of the independent variable. It is presumed to be caused
by another.

Example: If a researcher is interested in how stress affects heart rate

in humans. The independent variable would be “stress” and the
dependent variable would be “the heart rate”. Stress levels in human
subjects can be directly manipulated and measure how those stress
levels change heart rate.

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 *Levels of measurement
 Nominal  Interval
 Quantitative
 Categorical
 Rankable
 Consist of names, labels, categories
 Can determine numerical
 Not rankable
difference
 Cannot determine numerical
difference  Ratios are meaningless
 Can only describe the counts for  No true zero
each category  E.g. Temperature (Celsius and
 E.g. gender, religion, colour Fahrenheit scales), Years
 Ratio
 Ordinal  Quantitative
 Rankable
 Categorical  Can determine numerical
 Rankable difference
 Cannot determine numerical  Ratios are meaningful
difference
 True zero
 E.g. education level, type of
degree, course grades (A, B, C, D,  E.g. income, speed, prices of
F) etc. college textbooks etc.
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*

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 *
• A researcher wonders if the age at which people have their
first child is related to their level of education. To investigate
this possibility, he divides people who have had children into
four education brackets: high school or less, some college,
college degree, and advanced degree. He then records the
age at which each person had his or her first child. Determine
the scale of measurement used for each of the variables listed
below:
a) Education bracket: Nominal Ordinal Interval/ratio
b) Age at birth of first child: Nominal Ordinal
Interval/ratio

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 *
* A researcher used government records to classify each
family into one of seven different income categories
ranging from “below the poverty line” to “more than $1
million a year.” The researcher used police records to
determine the number of times each family was
burglarized. Determine the scale of measurement used
for each of the following variables:
a) Income category: Nominal Ordinal
Interval/ratio
b) Number of times burglarized: Nominal Ordinal
Interval/ratio

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 *
Determine which of the variables are discrete and which
are continuous.
• Number of times burglarized
• Gender of the participants
• Age at birth of first child

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 *Population vs. Sample
 Population: The collection of all measurements of interest to the researcher.
It is the group of all units or subjects under investigation. Quantities
computed based on a population are called parameters.

 Census: A enumeration of the entire set of measurements taken from the

whole population.

 Sample: It is a subset or part of the population. Potential members are

called sampling units. It is practical and preferred particularly when
minimizing cost and time is of interest to the researcher. Quantities
computed from a sample are called statistics.

 Random Sample: It is a sample collected such that all sampling units have an
equal chance of being selected (no sampling units is favoured over another).

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 *
Determine whether the given value is a statistic or a
parameter.
* A sample of households is selected and the average
(mean) number of people per household is 2.58 (based
on data from U.S. Census Bureau)
* Currently 42% of the governors of the 50 United States
are Democrats.
* A polling organization asked a representative sample of
50- to 55-year-olds living in the United States to
determine how much they had saved for retirement. The
average amount saved was $125,000.

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 *Types of Statistics
Descriptive Statistics:
Refers to a collection of techniques used to organize, summarize and
characterize data.

E.g. the use of tables, graphs and statistics such as the mean and the
mode.

Inferential Statistics:
Refers to a collection of techniques used to interpret and make inferences
about a population based on sample information.

 E.g. the use of confidence intervals and hypothesis tests.

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 *

1. Given the following set of scores:

4, 5, 6, 10, 15, 3. Find: (1)∑X (2)∑X2
(3) (∑X)2

2. For Q =(X+Y)(X2+Y2), find the value

of Q when X = 3 and Y = 5.

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