Basics of Biostatistics

Dr Sumanth MM
Assistant Professor, Community Medicine, MMCRI, Mysore
MBBS,MD,DNB

Constant and variable

A

constant is a quantity which within the frame

work of a given problem, remains unchanged;
A variable takes on various values.
The same quantity may be a constant in some
situation and a variable in another.
Types of variable
- Continuous
- Quantitative
- Discrete
- Qualitative
- Random

Scales of measurements
Nominal
Ordinal
Interval
Ratio

Variables at different settings

-

Independent - ( Intervening )
- Cause
- ( Confounding)
- Input
- ( Process )
- Predicting
- ( Disturbing )
- Experimental - ( Random )

- Dependent
- Effect
- Output
- Predicted
- Outcome

Data Analyses/Syntheses Process

Screening

/Verification/Cleaning up
Organization
Compilation /Collation &
Classification
Grouped

(Nominal/Ordinal/Numerical)

Frequency Distribution

Tabulation
Graphical

representations

Summary Statistics

Rates, Ratios and Proportions

Incidence & Prevalence (Point /Period)

Numerator and Denominator

Per Cent / Thousand / Lakh / Million

Summary Statistics
Measures of

Central Tendency averages

Dispersion/Deviation
/Scatter/Variation/ Spread

Location percentiles /quintiles

Measures of Central Tendency

Mean

(Simple / Arithmetic)

Median
Mode

Weighted

Mean (average of average or of percentages)t

Measures of Dispersion
Range

(min. - max.)

Modified

Range
Average Deviation (from Mean/given point)
Variance
Standard

Deviation

Coefficient

of Variation (CV expressed in relative %)

Measures of Location
Percentiles (100th fraction/partition)
Deciles

(10th fraction/partition)

Quartiles

(25th percentile)

Median

(50th percentile or 5th deciles)

Inter

- Quartile range
Inter - Deciles range

(Q3 Q1)
(D9 D1)

The role of Central tendency

and Deviation

Mean
95.5%
99.7%

+2

+3

Data entry and analysis

Objectives
You

should be able to make master chart

You should be able to understand the guidelines
to enter data

 Always

make it soft copy

Follow data sheet/questionnaire for data entry
Use excel/spss/graphpad
Identification for each observation is essential

 Always

know questionnaire
Always enter data uniformly
(capital letter etc)
Codes to be used
Column title should be simple, logical easy to
understand
Units need not be entered
Dont change the variable type (keep continuous
variables as it is)

 Prepare

master chart for your topic in excel

Data analysis
Data

---- information

Summary
Mean,

Median, Mode
Range, IQR, SIQR, Variablity
Proportion, OR, RR, Mean difference, Difference of
Proportion

Inferential
SEP,

SEM, SEDP, SEDM

Identifies role of chance

 Group

A- SEM-3 mean 10, 7-13

Group B- SEM-1 mean 9, 8-10

Identify

role of chance

Statistical

tests/ tests of significance

 Prarametric

tests
Non-parametric tests

Where

do you which tests?

Type of Data
Goal
Describe one group

Mean, SD

Rank, Score, or Measurement

(from Non- Gaussian
Population)
Median, interquartile range

Compare one group to a

hypothetical value

One-sample t test

Wilcoxon test

Compare two unpaired groups

Unpaired t test

Mann-Whitney test

Compare two paired groups

Paired t test

Wilcoxon test

Chi-square
or
Binomial test **
Fisher's test
(chi-square for large
samples)
McNemar's test

Compare three or more

unmatched groups

One-way ANOVA

Kruskal-Wallis test

Chi-square test

Compare three or more matched Repeated-measures ANOVA

groups

Friedman test

Cochrane Q**

Quantify association between

two variables

Pearson correlation

Spearman correlation

Contingency
coefficients**

Predict value from another

measured variable

Simple linear regression

Nonparametric regression**
or
Nonlinear regression
Multiple linear regression*
or
Multiple nonlinear regression**

Predict value from several

measured or binomial variables

Measurement (from
Gaussian Population)

Binomial
(Two Possible
Outcomes)
Proportion

Simple logistic
regression*
Multiple logistic
regression*

Test depends on
Study

design
Type of variable

softwares
SPSS
GRAPH

PAD
SYSSTAT
STATA
SAS
Epi info