Alpha University Borama

Departments of Nutrition and

Public Health Officer
Course title: Biostatistics
 Module One :
Introduction to
Biostatistics
 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of this Unit, students will be able
to know:
 To get an insight into the definitions of Statistics
and Biostatistics
 Types of Statistics
 Uses of Statistics
 Types of Data
 Scales of Measurement 3
 Introduction
• Statistics is the science of
collecting, organizing,
presenting, analyzing, and
interpreting numerical data for
the purpose of assisting in
making a more effective decision.
 Why Statistics is Studied?
 We face numerical data all the time
newspapers, sports magazines, business magazines
 Statistical techniques are used to make decisions
that effect our daily lives
 Insurance companies use statistics to set rates for
different insurance
 Medical professional assess the performance of a
new drug over the existing one
 No matter what is your future line of work,
you will make decisions that will involve data
 What is
Biostatistics?
• Biostatistics is the branch of applied
statistics that applies statistical
methods to medical and biological
problems.
• Concerned with interpretation of
biological data & the communication of
information derived from these data.
• It has central role in medical
investigations
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 Cont--
• One branch of descriptive statistics of
special relevance in medicine is that of
vital statistics– vital events: birth, death,
marriage, divorce, and the occurrence of
particular disease. They are used to
characterize the health status of a
population.
 Uses of Biostatistics
• Assessment of health status
• Evaluation
• Resource allocation
• Vaccination uptake
• Magnitudes of a
disease/condition
• Assessing risk factors

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 What does Biostatistics cover?

Planning
stage
Biostatistical thinking contribute in every
Design

Execution (Data collection)

Data Processing
General sequences
Data Analysis of steps in a
research
Presentation

Interpretation

Publication 9
 Types of Statistics
• 1. Descriptive statistics:
• Descriptive Statistics: Methods of
organizing, summarizing, and
presentation of data.
• Example: tables, graphs,
numerical summary
measures.
 2. Inferential statistics
Inferential statistics: Taking a sample from a
population and making estimates/assumptions
about a population, based on a sample.
• Inferential statistics consists of generalizing from
samples to populations, determining
relationships among variables and making
predictions.
A population is a collection of all possible
individuals, objects, or measurements of interest.
A sample is a representative portion or part of
the population of interest.
 Data
• Data are numbers which can be
measurements or can be obtained by
counting.
• The raw material for statistics can be
obtained from:
– Routinely kept records
– Surveys
– Reports

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 Types of Data
1. Primary data: collected from the items or
individual respondents directly by the
researcher for the purpose of certain study.
• The term “primary data” refers to data you collect yourself.
Primary data is information obtained directly from the
source. You will be the first party to use this data.
2. Secondary data: which had been collected by
certain people or agency, and statistically
treated and the information contained in it is
used for other purpose.
• Recorded data
• It is a type of data that has already been collected in the
past. 13
 Population
Target population:
• A collection of people that
share something in common
for which we wish to draw
conclusions at a particular
time.
• We can also call reference/
source population.
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Study Population
• The subset of the target
population that has at least
some chance of being
sampled.
• The specific population from
which data are collected.

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 E.g. In a study of the prevalence
of anemia among pregnant
mothers in Borama, Somaliland.
Target Population: All pregnant
mothers in Somaliland
Sample Study population: All pregnant
mothers in Borama district.
Study Population Sample: Pregnant mothers in Sh.
Osman District
Target Population

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 Parameter and
Statistic
• Parameter: A descriptive
measure computed from
the data of a population.
• Statistic: A descriptive
measure computed from
the data of a sample.

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 Types of Variables
Variable is a characteristics that can assume
any set of prescribed values
Age, Height, Weight, Eye color, Total
population of a country
Qualitative Variable (Attribute)
Quantitative Variable
 Cont--
 Qualitative variable : the characteristic or
variable being studied is non-numeric. (Name
or Categories) or According to some
characteristic or Attribute.

EXAMPLES: Gender(Male or Female) , Religious

affiliation, Type of automobile owned, Eye
color, Geographical Locations.
 Cont--
 Quantitative variable: the variable which can be
measured and reported numerically.
 Quantitative variables are numerical and can be
ordered or ranked. For example, the variable age is
numerical, and people can be ranked in order
according to the value of their ages. Other examples
of quantitative variables are heights, weights, and
body temperatures.

EXAMPLE: Balance in your savings account, Time remaining

in class, Number of children in a family.
 Cont--
 Quantitative variables can be classified as either
discrete or continuous.
 Discrete variables: can only assume certain values.
 Discrete variables can be assigned values such as 0,
1, 2, 3 and are said to be countable. Examples of
discrete variables are the number of children in a
family, the number of students in a classroom, and
the number of calls received.

EXAMPLE: the number of bedrooms in a house.

(1,2,3,..., etc...).
 Discrete variables
• Discrete variables assume
values that can be counted.
• The values of a discrete variable
are usually whole numbers,
such as the Number of Diarrhoe
cases among under five
Children.
 Continuous variables
• Continuous variables can assume an
infinite number of values between any
two specific values. They are obtained by
measuring. They often include fractions
and decimals
• Examples include weight, height, blood
pressure, Age, Temperature, etc.
Scales of Measurement
1.Nominal Scale
2.Ordinal Scale
3.Interval Scale
4.Ratio Scale
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 Nominal Scale

• The simplest type of data, in which

the values fall into unordered
categories
• Uses names, labels, or symbols to
assign each measurement.
• Nominal data:- Data that represent
categories or names. There is no
implied order to the categories of
nominal data.
• Examples: Blood type, sex, race,
marital status, city of birth. 25
Some other examples of nominal data:

• Eye color - brown, black, etc.

• Religion – Islam, Christianity,
Hinduism, etc
• Sex - male, female
• Race/Ethnicity-
 Ordinal Scale

• Assigns each measurement to

one of a limited number of
categories that are ranked in
terms of order.
• Examples: Patient status,
cancer stages, military rank,
class ranking, language
ability (e.g., beginner,
intermediate, fluent) 27
 Example of ordinal scale

• Pain level:
1. None
2. Mild
3. Moderate
4. Severe
 Example:
1. strongly agree
2. agree
3. no opinion
4. disagree
5. strongly disagree
• In the above situation, we only know
that the data are ordered.
 Interval Scale
• The interval level of measurement ranks data,
and precise differences between units of
measure do exist; however, there is no
meaningful zero.
• For Example, temperature, 00 F does not
mean no heat at all.
 Ratio Scale
• Measurement begins at a true zero point and
the scale has equal space.
• Examples: Height, weight, blood pressure, age,
number of phone calls received, ruler, year of
experience, income earned in a week, number
of children, etc.

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 Class Activity
1. Identify the scale of measurement
for the following categorization of
clothing: hats, shirts, shoes, trousers:
a. Ordinal
b. Nominal
c. Interval
d. Ratio

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2. Identify the scale of
measurement for the following:
heat measured in degrees
centigrade.
a.Nominal
b.Ordinal
c. Ratio
d.Interval
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3. letter grades (A, B, C, D, F) are
Examples of ;
a.Nominal
b.Ordinal
c. Ratio
d.Interval
4. A sample of college instructors classified
according to subject taught (e.g English,
history, psychology, or mathematics) is an
example of;
a. Nominal
b. Ordinal
c. Ratio
d. Interval
5. political party (Democratic,
Republican, Independent, etc.)
a.Nominal
b.Ordinal
c. Ratio
d.Interval
6. Identify the scale of measurement
for the following: Age of the students.
a. Nominal
b. Ordinal
c. Ratio
d. Interval

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7. City of birth is an
example of a(an):
a.Nominal
b.Ordinal
c.Ratio
d.Interval

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Cont.

8. Identify the scale of

measurement of
socioeconomic status of your
friends: poor, middle class,
rich.
a.Nominal
b.Ratio
c. Ordinal
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Cont.
9. A type of living accommodation
(House, apartment, other) is an
example of:
a. Nominal
b. Ratio
c. Ordinal
d. Interval

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10. Religion (Islam, Christianity, Judaism, etc.)
are examples of;
a. Nominal
b. Ratio
c. Ordinal
d. Interval
• Marital status (single, married, divorced,
widowed, separated) which one is suitable for
the following of Scale Measurements;
a. Nominal
b. Ratio
c. Ordinal
d. Interval
 Exercises
• Identify the type of data (nominal, ordinal, interval
and ratio) represented by each of the following.
Confirm your answers by giving your own examples.
1. Blood group
2. Temperature (Celsius)
3. Ethnic group
4. Job satisfaction
5. Calendar year
6. Number of accidents in 3 - year period
7. Number of cases of each reportable disease reported
by a health worker
8. The average weight gain .
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