Business Statistics Fundamentals

Vocabulary flashcards covering core concepts of business statistics, including data collection techniques, measurement scales, types of data, statistical analysis categories, and sampling fundamentals.

Statistic

The mathematical science that deals with the collection, analysis, and presentation of data which can be used as a basis for inference and induction.

Business Statistics

Statistics applied to the business world to help improve decision making.

Data

Values assigned to observations or measurement, representing facts, numbers, or information collected.

Information

Data that are transformed into useful facts that can be used for a specific purpose, such as making decisions.

Data Set

A collection of data points.

Database

A collection of data points that contains multiple rows (records) and columns (fields), organized as a large table.

Primary Data

Data that you have collected for your own use.

Secondary Data

Data collected by someone else that is readily available and less expensive to obtain.

Direct Observation

A method of gathering data while the subjects of interest are in their natural environment, often unaware they are being watched.

Focus Group

A direct observational technique where individuals are often paid to discuss their attitudes toward products or services in a group setting controlled by a moderator.

Experiment

A method of gathering primary data by exposing subjects to certain treatments and recording the data of interest.

Survey

A method of collecting primary data by directly asking people a series of questions.

Bias (in Survey Questions)

Occurs when a question is stated in a way that encourages or leads a respondent to a particular answer.

Qualitative Data

Data classified by descriptive terms or categories rather than numbers, such as name of respondent or level of education.

Quantitative Data

Data described by numerical values that can be measured or counted, such as height, weight, or number of customers.

Quantitative Discrete Data

Values based on observations that can be counted and are typically represented by whole numbers.

Nominal Data Measurement

Data measurement consisting of arbitrary labels with no ranking or order allowed.

Ordinal Data Measurement

Data measurement where ranking is allowed, but there is no measurement to the numerical differences between rankings.

Interval Data Measurement

Data measurement with meaningful differences between values, but no true zero point (e.g., temperature in Celsius).

Ratio Data Measurement

Data measurement where differences between values are meaningful and there is a true zero point (e.g., weight, income, age).

Time Series Data

Values that correspond to specific measurements taken over a range of time periods for the same subject or measurement type.

Cross-Sectional Data

Values collected from a number of subjects during a single time period.

Descriptive Statistics

The process of collecting, summarizing, and displaying data so that it is easy to understand.

Inferential Statistics

Making claims, conclusions, or inferences about a population based on a sample.

Predictive Statistics

Analyzing past data to predict future values and make decisions.

Population

Represents all possible subjects that are interested in a particular study.

Sample

Refers to a portion of the population that is representative of the population from which it was selected.

Biased Sample

A sample that does not represent the intended population, which can lead to distorted findings.