Statistical Terms

population census qualitative variable

sample survey quantitative variable
parameter variable discrete variable
statistic data continuous variable

Definition
Statistics is a science of collecting, organizing, summarizing, presenting, analyzing, and
interpreting data to assist in making more effective decisions.

Descriptive Statistics - methods of collecting, organizing, summarizing, and presenting data

in an informative way.

Inferential Statistics - methods concerned with the analysis of a subset of data leading to
predictions or inferences about the entire set of data, that is, to generalize result beyond the data
collected.

Population - entire set of individuals or objects that are being studied.

Sample - portion or part of the population of interest.
Parameter - descriptive measures or characteristics of population.
Statistic - descriptive measures or characteristics of sample.
Census - process of gathering information from every element of the population.
Survey - process of gathering information from every element of a sample.
Variable - observable characteristics of a person or object that can assume different values.
Data - measurements or observations for a variable.

Types of variable
Qualitative - non-numeric
Quantitative - can be reported numerically

Qualitative Quantitative
Civil Status Age
Nationality No. of siblings
Religion Ounces of ice cream
Degree earned Height
Gender Weight
Letter Grade Weekly allowance
Job Numerical grade

Types of Quantitative
1 Discrete Variables
- can assume values that can be counted
2 Continuous Variables
- can assume an infinite number of values between two specific values

Levels of Measurement
Nominal Level - characterized by data that consists of names, labels, or categories only. The
data cannot be arranged in an ordering scheme (such as low to high).
Example:
Survey responses as yes, no, undecided
Definition
Ordinal Level - involves data that may be arranged in some order, but differences between
data values either cannot be determined or are meaningless.
Example:
Course grades A, B+, B, C+, C, D, F or AF
Organizing Data
Categorical Distribution Categorical Frequency Distribution Table
Twenty five inductees were given a blood
test to determine their blood type.

more people have type O blood than any

other type

Grouped Frequency Distribution Grouped Frequency Distribution Table

Ages of Patients in Hospital A

25 28 27 30 32 25 31 26 29
31 20 21 32 18 50 53 60 50
45 40 37 25 20 27 32 24 29
25 24 10 12 15 28 6 54 30

Data Presentation
Histogram - a bar graph in which the horizontal scale represents classes of data values and
the vertical scale represents frequencies. The heights of the bars correspond to the frequency
values, and the bars are drawn adjacent to each other (without gaps).

Frequency Polygon - uses line segments connected to points located directly above class
midpoint values.

Pie Graph
- used to visually depict qualitative data
- a circle divided into sections according to the percentage of frequencies in each category of the
distribution

Bar Graph
- represents the data by using vertical or horizontal bars whose heights or lengths represent the
frequencies of the data

Time Series Graph

- data that have been collected at different points in time

Line Graph
- used to show trends and increases or decreases in sales, scores, population per year etc.

Relative Frequency Graph

- also known as percentage frequency

Pareto Chart
- a type of chart that contains both bars and a line graph, where individual values are
represented in descending order by bars, and the cumulative total is represented by the line

Measures of Central Tendency

Arithmetic Mean or Average
- numerical balancing point of the data set. It is calculated by adding all the data values and
dividing the sum by the total number of data points.
Median (Md)
- the middle number in an ordered set of data
if n is odd if n is even
Md = middle score Md = sum of two middle scores
2

Mode (Mo)
- most frequently occurring number in a data set
Examples:
1. 2 5 8 3 2 2 3 1 (Mode is 2)
2. 1 1 3 5 7 8 3 4 (Bimodal, Mode is 1 and 3)
3. 2 4 6 8 9 3 1 5 (No mode)

Midrange (MR)
- the value midway between the highest and lowest values in the original data set

MR = highest score + lowest score

2

Weighted Mean
- multiply each value by its corresponding
weight and dividing the sum of the products
by the sum of the weights.

where w1, w2, w3, . . . , wn are the weights

and X1, X2, X3, . . . , Xn are the values.

Measures of Dispersions
• Range
- difference between highest and lowest value
• Standard Deviation
- always positive
- zero if all the data are the same
- uses the same units as the original data set
- can be influenced by outliers
• Variance
- does not use the same units as the data

Population Standard deviation (σ) Sample Standard deviation (s)

where X - individual value where X - individual value
μ - population mean X - sample mean
N - population size n - sample size

Measures of Position
Example:
According to the Department of Labor, the median annual salary for
a physical therapist was P74, 480. If the 90th percentile for the
annual salary of a physical therapist was P105, 900, find the percent
of physical therapist whose annual salary was
a. more than P74, 480
b. less than P105, 900
c. between P74, 480 and 105, 900

Example:
A basketball player Carl is 78 inches tall and a volleyball player Jane
is 76 inches tall. Carl is obviously taller by 2 inches, but which player
is relatively taller? Does Carl’s height among men exceed Jane’s
height among women? Men have mean height of 68 inches and a
standard deviation of 2.8 inches while women have mean height of
63.6 inches and a standard deviation of 2.5 inches.

Carl’s height is 3.57 standard deviations above the mean, but Jane’s
height is a whopping 4.96 standard deviations above the mean.
Jane’s height among women is relatively greater than Carl’s height
among men.

Box and Whisker Plot (box plot) Constructing Box-and-Whisker Pot

- used to provide a visual summary of a set
of data
- it shows the median, the 1st and 3rd
quartiles, and the minimum and maximum
values of a data set
1. Find the five-number summary for the
data values, that is, the maximum and
minimum data values, Q1 and Q3, and the
median.
2. Draw a horizontal line with a scale such
that it includes the maximum and minimum
data values.
3. Draw a box whose vertical sides go
through Q1 and Q3, and draw a vertical line
though the median.
4. Draw a line from the minimum data value
to the left side of the box and a line from the
maximum data value to the right side of the
box.
Characteristics of Normal Distribution