nature of biostatistics

Q: What is biostatistics?
A: The application of statistical methods to the life sciences, including biology, medicine, and public health.

Q: What are the two main branches of statistics?
A:

Descriptive statistics – Summarizes and organizes data (e.g., mean, median, mode).
Inferential statistics – Draws conclusions and makes predictions based on data.

Q: What are the four levels of measurement?
A:

Q: What is the difference between discrete and continuous variables?
A:

Discrete: Countable values with gaps (e.g., number of students in a class).
Continuous: Can take any value within a range (e.g., height, weight).

Q: What is a discrete variable?
A: A variable that takes only specific, countable values with gaps in between (e.g., number of students in a class).
Q: What is a continuous variable?
A: A variable that can take any value within a range, including fractions and decimals (e.g., height, weight, blood pressure).
Q: Give an example of a discrete variable.
A: The number of cars in a parking lot (1, 2, 3… not 2.5).
Q: Give an example of a continuous variable.
A: The temperature in Celsius (e.g., 36.5°C, 37.2°C).
Q: What is a nominal variable?
A: A qualitative variable with categories that have no inherent order (e.g., blood type: A, B, AB, O).
Q: What is an ordinal variable?
A: A variable with categories that have a meaningful order but unequal differences (e.g., pain severity: none, mild, moderate, severe).
Q: What is an interval variable?
A: A quantitative variable where the difference between values is meaningful, but there is no true zero (e.g., temperature in Celsius).
Q: What is a ratio variable?
A: A quantitative variable with equal intervals and a true zero, allowing for meaningful ratios (e.g., weight in kg, height in cm).
Q: Which level of measurement allows for meaningful multiplication and division?
A: Ratio (e.g., a weight of 20kg is twice as heavy as 10kg).