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Chapter 1 What Is Statistics
Chapter 1 What Is Statistics
“Statistical thinking will one day be as necessary for efficient citizenship as the ability to read and write”
(H. G. Wells)
Statistics. The science of collecting, organizing, presenting, analyzing, and interpreting a numerical data
for the purpose of assisting in making a more effective decision.
TYPES OF STATISTICS
Descriptive Statistics. The procedures used to organize and summarize masses of numerical data.
Inferential Statistics/Statistical Inference/Inductive Statistics. The methods used to find out something
about a population, based on a sample.
“Finding out something from a population based on a sample taken from that population”
Reasons for Sampling. Ex: A sample of registered voters is necessary because of the prohibitive cost of
contacting millions of voters before an election.
TYPES OF VARIABLES
Two basic types of data: (1) those obtained from a qualitative population
Nominal Level
This level is considered the most “primitive”, the “lowest”, or the most limited type of
measurement.
Data that can only be classified into categories
There are no measurements and no scales involved. Instead, there are just counts.
There is no particular order for the groupings
Categories are considered to be mutually exclusive
Ordinal Level
Interval Level
It includes all the characteristics of the ordinal scale, but in addition, the distance between
values is a constant size.
Mutually exclusive and exhaustive properties
Ratio Level
DEFINITION OF STATISTICS
As used in a broader sense, statistics refers to the statistical tools used to collect, present, analyze, and
interpret data for the purpose of making more effective decisions.
SUBDIVISIONS OF STATISTICS
Descriptive Statistics deals with presenting data in a graph or a frequency distribution and with applying
various averages and measures of dispersion.
Inferential statistics deals with taking a sample from a population and making estimates about a
characteristics of that population based on the sample results.
TYPES OF VARIABLES
Qualitative variables presumes that the variable is nonnumeric, such as make of motorcycle (Harley-
Davidson, Yamaha)
Quantitative variables deals with variables that can be measured, such as weight (110 pounds, 304
pounds) or annual sales ($10.1 million, $7.6 million)
LEVELS OF MEASUREMENT
Nominal level of measurement refers to data that can only be counted and out into categories. There is
no particular order to the categories.
Ordinal level of measurement presumes that one category is higher than another. Freshman,
sophomore, junior, and senior illustrates this kind of ranking
Interval level of measurement includes the ranking characteristics of the ordinal measurement and
specifies that the distance between numbers is the same.
Ratio level of measurement has all the characteristics of the interval level of measurement. In addition,
the zero point is meaningful, and the ratio between two numbers is meaningful.