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Introduction To Statistics: Muhammad Afzal Khan

This document provides an introduction to statistics. It defines statistics according to various authors and notes that R.A. Fisher's definition as "mathematics applied to observational data" is considered the best. The main divisions of statistics are described as mathematical/theoretical, descriptive, inferential, and applied statistics. Descriptive statistics aims to describe data through measures like the mean and standard deviation, while inferential statistics allows drawing conclusions about populations from samples. Limitations and characteristics of statistics are also outlined, along with its main functions of collecting, presenting, analyzing, and interpreting data.

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Muhammad Afzal Khan
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147 views17 pages

Introduction To Statistics: Muhammad Afzal Khan

This document provides an introduction to statistics. It defines statistics according to various authors and notes that R.A. Fisher's definition as "mathematics applied to observational data" is considered the best. The main divisions of statistics are described as mathematical/theoretical, descriptive, inferential, and applied statistics. Descriptive statistics aims to describe data through measures like the mean and standard deviation, while inferential statistics allows drawing conclusions about populations from samples. Limitations and characteristics of statistics are also outlined, along with its main functions of collecting, presenting, analyzing, and interpreting data.

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Muhammad Afzal Khan
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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INTRODUCTION TO

STATISTICS

Instructor :
Muhammad Afzal Khan
Ph.D(Scholar) Econometrics
Pakistan Institute of Development Economics(PIDE), Islamabad
Email: [email protected]
Lecture: 01
STATISTICS
DEFINITIONS OF STATISTICS
According to R.A Fisher
It is essentially a branch of Applied Mathematics and
may be regarded as mathematics applied to
observational data.
According to Lovitt
Statistics is the science which deals with the collecting,
classifying, presenting, comparing and interpreting
numerical data collected, to throw light on any sphere of
inquiry.
CONTINUED…

Cecil H. Meyers
It is a science of numerical information which employs
the processes of measurement and classification,
analysis, decision making and communication of results
in a manner understandable and verifiable by each
other.
L.H.C. Tippet
Planning is the order of the day and without statistics it
is inconceivable
CONTINUED……
According to Prof. Asad Zaman
Statistics is all about numbers and numbers
tells us nothing about reality but clues/hints
about reality
Which definition is best?
Provided by R. A. Fisher
CONTINUED…..

The fundamental goal of statistics is to summarize large amounts of data


with a few numbers that provide us with some sort of insight into the
process that generated the data we observed.
For example, if we were interested in learning about the
income of individuals in Pakistani society, and we asked 1,000
individuals “What is your income?,” we would probably not be
interested in reporting the income of all 1,000 persons. Instead, we
would more likely be interested in a few numbers that summarized this
information like the mean, median, and variance of income in the
sample and we would want to be able to use these sample summaries to
say something about income in the population. In a nutshell,
“Statistics” is the process of constructing these
sample summaries and using them to infer something
about the population.
MAIN DIVISIONS OF STATISTICS
Mathematical or Theoretical Statistics
It covers development of statistical distributions,
experimental designs, sampling designs etc.
Statistical Methods or Functions
It covers collection, tabulations, analysis and
interpretation of data etc.
Descriptive Statistics
Classification and diagrammatic representation of data
Descriptive Statistics
Descriptive statistics is the type of statistics that probably springs to most people’s
minds when they hear the word “statistics.” In this branch of statistics, the goal is to
describe. Numerical measures are used to tell about features of a set of data. there are a
number of items that belong in this portion of statistics, such as:
The average, or measure of the center of a data set, consisting of the mean, median,
mode, or midrange.
The spread of a data set, which can be measured with the range or standard
deviation.
Overall descriptions of data such as the five number summary.
Measurements such as skewness and kurtosis.
The exploration of relationships and correlation between paired data.
The presentation of statistical results in graphical form.
CONTINUED……

Applied Statistics
It mainly covers population, census, national
income, business statistics, industrial
statistics, quality control, biostatistics etc.
Inferential Statistics
To draw conclusions about population on the
basis of sample drawn from it.
Inferential Statistics:
Inferential statistics are produced through complex mathematical calculations that
allow scientists to infer trends about a larger population based on a study of a sample
taken from it. Scientists use inferential statistics to examine the relationships
between variables within a sample and then make generalizations or predictions
about how those variables will relate to a larger population.
It is usually impossible to examine each member of the population individually. So
scientists choose a representative subset of the population, called a statistical sample,
and from this analysis, they are able to say something about the population from
which the sample came. there are two major divisions of inferential statistics:
 A confidence interval gives a range of values for an unknown parameter of the
population by measuring a statistical sample. this is expressed in terms of an
interval and the degree of confidence that the parameter is within the interval.
 Tests of significance or hypothesis testing where scientists make a claim about the
population by analyzing a statistical sample. By design, there is some uncertainty
in this process. this can be expressed in terms of a level of significance.
LIMITATION OF STATISTICS
1) Statistics deals with quantitative data only. Even qualitative
information is converted into numerical data by the method of
ranking, scoring or scaling
2) It is true on an average only
3) Statistics deals with the masses, not an individual. No statistics is
applicable for a single observation.
4) Statistical results are correct in a general sense. They are always
subject to certain amount of error
5) It is only a means to draw conclusions about masses or population
but not a solution to all sort of problems
6) Statistics can be misused in many ways.
CHARACTERISTICS OF
STATISTICS
It consists of aggregates of facts
In the plural sense, statistics refers to data, but data to be called
statistics must consist of aggregate of certain facts.
A single and isolated fact or figure like, 60 Kgs. weight of a student
does not amount to statistics. A single figure/number cannot be
analyzed. A single figure relating to height, production, sales, birth
etc. cannot be called statistics but aggregates of such amounts like
heights of students in the class, production of different models of
cars in last year can be considered as statistics because of their
comparability, variation and relationship
CONTINUED….

It is effected by many causes:


A number of causes affect statistics in a particular field of
inquiry,
e.g. yield of a crop is effected by climate, soil, fertility,
availability of raw materials, rain fall, the quality of seeds used,
quality and quantity of fertilizers used and technology.
In another example we can say that result of class
XII in board examination does not depend on any single factor
but collectively on standard of teachers, teaching methods,
teaching aids, practical’s performance of students, standard of
question papers and as well as of evaluation.
CONTINUED……

It should be numerically expressed:


Statistics is concerned with facts expressed numerical form with their
quantitative detail but not qualitative descriptions. Therefore facts
indicated by terms such as good or bad, rich or poor, male or female etc.
are not statistics unless a numerical value is assigned to each expression.
It must be enumerated or estimated accurately:
Statements should be precise and meaningful. For getting reasonable
standard of accuracy the field of enquiry should not be very large. If it is
infinite or very large, even enumeration of data is impossible and
reasonable standard of accuracy may not be achieved. e.g. we may
measure the height of buildings in meters but we cannot measure the
length of small things like bricks in the same unit of meter.
CONTINUED….
It should be collected in a systematic manner:
Data should be collected in a systematic manner. A proper plan should be
made and trained investigators should be used to collect data so that they
may collect statistics. If it is not done, in such cases reliability of data
gets decreased. So to get correct results the data must be collected in a
precise/systematic manner.
It should be collected for a predetermined purpose
Before we start the collection of data, we must be clear with the purpose
for which we are collecting the data. If we have no information about its
purpose, we may not be collecting data according to the needs. We may
need some more relevant data to achieve the required purpose, which we
would miss in the event of its ignorance.
CONTINUED….

It should be capable of being placed in relation to each


other
The collection of data is generally done with the motive to
compare. If the figures collected are not comparable, in
that case, they lose a large part of their significance.
e.g. Data on memory test can be compared with I.Q. not
with salary status of parents. 
It can be concluded that all statistics are numerical
data but all numerical data are not statistics unless
they satisfy all the essential characteristics of statistics.
MAIN FUNCTIONS OF STATISTICS
There are four main functions of statistics:
1. Collection of data
2. Presentation of data
3. Analysis of data
4. Interpretation of results

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