STATS Lesson #1

Statistics

It is the science of collecting, organizing, summarizing, and analyzing information to draw conclusions or answer questions.

Universe

It is the set of all entities under study.

Population

It is the set of all possible values of the variable.

Individual

It is a person or object that is a member of the population being studied.

Statistic

It is a numerical summary of a sample.

Sample

It is a subset of a population.

Descriptive Statistics

• It consists of organizing and summarizing data.

• It describes data through numerical summaries and tables.

Inferential Statistics

It uses methods that take a result from a sample, extend it to the population, and measure the reliability of the result.

Parameter

It is a numerical summary of a population.

Variables

They are the characteristics of the individuals within the population.

Qualitative Variables

It is variable that yields categorical responses.

Quantitative Variables

It takes on numerical values representing an amount or quantity.

Discrete Variable

It is a quantitative variable that either a finite number of possible values or a countable number of possible values.

Continuous Variable

It is a quantitative variable that has an infinite number of possible values that are not countable.

Measurement

It is the process of assigning value to a variable.

Nominal

• It consist of names, labels or categories only.

• The data cannot be arranged in ordering scheme.

• Its scales have no numerical value.

• E.g.: Method of Payment, Type of School, Eye Color

Ordinal

• It puts the subjects in order from highest to lowest, from most to least.

• E.g.: Class Ranking, Social Economic Class

Interval

• It classifies and orders the measurements.

• It specifies that the distances between each interval on the scale are equivalent along the scale from low interval to high interval.

• A value of zero does not mean the absence of the quantity.

• E.g.: Temperature on Fahrenheit/Celsius Thermometer - Trait anxiety, IQ

Ratio

• It has the properties of the interval level of measurement and the ratios of the values of the variable have meaning.

• A value of zero means the absence of the quantity.

• E.g.: Height & Weight, Time, Distance & Speed