BME-339: Chapter 1 Concepts

Statistics

Is the science in which inferences are made about specific random phenomena based on limited sample data.

Biostatistics

Is the use of statistical tools to answer questions in medicine, biology, and public health, such as drug effectiveness, causes of medical conditions, and accuracy of instruments.

Variable

A characteristic that takes on different values in different persons, places, or things. The values that these variables can assume are data.

Quantitative Variable

A variable that is numerical and can be ordered or ranked.

Qualitative Variable

A variable that can only be placed into distinct categories and has non-numerical entries.

Random Variable

A variable whose value cannot be predicted in advance.

Population

The largest collection of entities for which we have an interest. A population can be finite or infinite.

Finite Population

A population with a finite number of entities.

Infinite Population

A population with an infinite number of possible entities.

Sample

A part or subset of a population.

Discrete Variable

A variable whose values can be counted.

Continuous Variable

A variable with an infinite number of values.

Simple Random Sample

Every member in a sample has an equal chance of being selected using a random generator.