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Biostatistics Week 5

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12 views18 pages

Biostatistics Week 5

Uploaded by

ibrahimmdyusuf071
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Biostatistics

LECTURE BY DR S A BASHIR
LEVEL 2
WEEK 5
Frequency distribution and normal
curve

 It guides about the distribution of variables in the sample


 It may have an infinite number of shapes
 Some important shapes include:

Those with troughs in the middle (bath tub)


those with peaks at the center and symmetrical tails (bell shaped)
those with skewed distribution (with the peak either towards the right
or left with the tails in the direction of skewness)
Characteristics of a frequency
distribution

 After plotting a frequency distribution graph,


the next step is to ascertain important values
that can be used to describe the
characteristics of that distribution and helps
in making comparison with other distributions
Characteristics include

 Central tendencies: mean, median and mode


 Degree of spread or scattering of the observations around the central
value (dispersion)
 The pattern of scattering i.e dispersion around the central value (shape
of the distribution asymmetry is called skewness)
 The peaking or flatness of the distribution is known as KURTOSIS
Note

 Differenttypes of frequency will differ in the


above mentioned characteristics and each
type of frequency will have its unique set of
characteristics
Properties of a Frequency Distributon

 Central Location
 Spread
 Shape
Properties of a Frequency Distributon

 Variables studied are distributed in a population in a


particular way
 Situations in which variables are of a contious nature
(weight, height, age) need tests of significance for
analysis.
 For tests to be carried out particular assumptions are
made
 One of the assumptions is that the variables should
have a normal or Gaussian curve
Central location
Normal or Gaussian Distribution

 This is the type of frequency distribution in a population which


has the following characteristics

 The curve has a peak in the middle with two tails on either side
 The mean, median and mode of the distribution coincide and
correspond to the peak of the distribution
 The curve is bell-shaped and bilaterally symmetrical around the
mean of the distribution
For a normal curve

 Not only do the mean, median, and mode coincide at the central peak,
but the area under the curve helps determine measures of spread such
as the standard deviation and confidence interval
 The proportion of frequencies lying on either side of the mean follows a
specific patter which is proportionate to the frequencies lying within
range of one standard deviation on either side of the mean is 68.27%
 Within range of the +_ 2 standard deviation is 95.45%
 Within range of +- 3 standard deviation is 99.73%
 Area under normal curve is unity (or one)
 The standard deviation is 1
Spread

 A second property of frequency distribution is spread (also called)


variation or dispersion).
 Spread refers to the distribution out from a central value. Two measures
of spread commonly used in epidemiology are range and standard
deviation
 For most distributions seen in epidemiology, the spread of a frequency
distribution is independent of its central location.
Shape

 The shape of a frequency distribution tells a lot about the distribution.


 In some variables frequency distributions tend to be symmetrical such
as weight, height age atc
 Whereas in some situations the frequency distribution tends to lean
towards the right or left away from the central location.
Shape
incidence of ovarian cancer
 A distribution that has a central location to the left and a tail off to the
right is said to be positively skewed or skewed to the right

 A distribution that has a central location to the right and a tail to the
left is said to be negatively skewed or skewed to the left.
Measures of Variability

 Range
 Interquartile range
 Standard deviation
 variance

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