BIOSTAT LAB

Variables

CONSTANT- values remain the same

Examples:
- No. of seconds in a minute
- No. of stars in the big dipper
- Value of pi (3.14)
VARIABLES- cannot be predicted with certainty
Examples:
- Signs and symptoms
- Levels of knowledge, attitude and practices
- Socio-demographic and economic characteristics

TYPES OF VARIABLES ACCORDING TO LEVELOR SCALE OF MEASUREMENT

*NOMINAL- labels (ex: color,region)

*ORDINAL- ranking system (ex: severity of disease mild moderate severe and ranking of
students according to academic achievement)
*INTERVAL- exact differences between categories; zero point is arbritrary (ex: temperatirein
degrees celcius, grades)
*RATIO- computed and interpreted; zero point is fixed (ex: height and weight)

Types of Variables
QUALITATIVE- used as labels (sex,region in a country,height category)
QUANTITATIVE-measured and ordered (age,systolic and diastolic bp,height in cm/ft)

Types of Quantitative Variables

DISCRETE-integral or whole numbers (hospital bed capacity, household members)
CONTINUOUS- infractions and decimals (temp in celcius and weight in lbs.)
Research Variables
DEPENDENT- response variable (observed and measured)
INDEPENDENT- treatment or intervention variable (manipulated)

SAMPLING
TERMINOLOGIES
POPULATION- entire group or individual/items of interest in the study
TARGET POPULATION-population representative information is desired and so which inferences
will be made
SAMPLING POPULATION-population from which a sample will actually be taken
SAMPLE-portion/subset of population
- to get a sample, one needs some sort of listing which sores the target
SAMPLING FRAME- a collection of all sampling unics
SAMPLING ERROR- difference between the value of parameter being investigated and the
estimates of this value based in the different samples.
SAMPLING- studying/examining only a segment of the population to represent the whole.
- method that allows researchers to infer info about a population based on results
from a subset or the population without having to investigate every individual
- findings gathered for the segment of the population can be generalized to the total
population.

ADVANTAGES OF SAMPLING
- Cheaper lower costs within a population instead of interviewing everyone
- Faster shorter task spam
- Better quality info
- More comprehensive data maybe obtained
- The only possible method for destructive procedure
USES
- Evaluation of health stats if the population
- Investigating the factors affecting health
- Evaluating the effectiveness of the health measurements
- Assessing specific aspects in the administration of health services
- Evaluating the completeness and reliability of record systems

CRITERIA OF GOOD SAMPLING PLAN

 - Should be able to represent the whole population this means that it should reflect both
one characteristics and variability of the population.
- Should be adequate and answer question
- Practical and feasible (simple and straightforward)
- Economic (smallest cost possible) and efficient
DIFFERENT SAMPLING DESIGNS
- Probabilty
- Non-probility
Probability Sampling
-states with a complete sampling frame or all eligible individuals from which you select your
sample
-probability sampling methods tend to be more time consuming and expensive than non-
probability.

SIMPLE PROBABILITY SAMPLING

-each indiv is chosen by chance and each indiv has an equal chance of being selected
- allows the sampling error to be calculated and reduce selection bias (ex:drawlots) FORM
SMALL POPULATION
SYSTEMATIC SAMPLING
-indivs are selected at a regular intervals from the sampling frame
-the intervals (k) are chisen to ensure adequate sample size
- k=N/n
-(N) ratio of the population size
-(n) sample size

STRATIFIED SAMPLING
- the population is first divide into non overlapping subgroups (strata) who all share the similar
characteristics.
-representation of all subgroups
-accuracy and representiveness of resulted by reducing sampling bias
CLUSTER SAMPLING
- divided to clusters
-doesn’t have something in common; group regardless of their age gender race etc.
Non-Probability Sampling
- doesn’t start with a complete sampling frame for to some indiv has no chance of being
selected
-cheaper and more convenient
-cannot estimate the effect of sampling error
-increased significant risk of ending u with a non- representative sample
-useful for exploratory research and hypothesis generation

ACCIDENTAL SAMPLING
-easiest method because participants are selected based on availability and willingness useful
results can be obtained but results are prone to bias

JUDGEMENT/PURPOSIVE SAMPLING
- relies on the judgement of the researcher when choosing who to ask to participate
-chooses representatives suit to the needs
-time and cost effective

QUOTA SAMPLING
-often used by market researchers
-interviewers are given quota of subjects of a specified type to attempt to recruit

SNOWBALL SAMPLING
-used in social sciences when investigating hard to reach groups
-convenient when a sampling frame is difficult to identify
-significant risk of selection biased because proceeding samples are solely based in previous
ones.