RES 1N Prefinal Module 4

Learning Objectives:
1. Be able to apply statistical tools to analyze bi-variate data
2. Be able to interpret and analyze the statistical output

Lesson Content

What is Statistics?

There are many definitions of Statistics that you may find in several books on Statistics. You can make use of
those different meanings. However, in our class, we will use the definition of Statistics by Pagoso et al. (1992 )
which says that:

STATISTICS is a science that deals with the collection, organization, presentation, analysis, and interpretation
of numerical or quantitative data.

Some Uses of Statistics

➢ Surveys are designed to collect early returns on Election Day to forecast the outcome of an election.
➢ Consumers are samples to provide information for predicting product preference.
➢ The research physician conducts experiments to determine the effect of various drugs and controlled
environmental conditions on humans to infer the appropriate method of treatment of a particular disease.
➢ The engineer gets product samples to check quality characteristics along with various controllable
process variables to assist in locating important variables related to product quality.
➢ Newly manufactured fuses are sampled before shipping to decide whether to ship or hold individual
lots.
➢ The economist observes various indices of economic health over some time and uses the information
to forecast the condition of the economy next year.
What are the Divisions of Statistics?
1. Descriptive Statistics
➢ the term is given to the analysis of data that helps describe, show, or summarize data in a meaningful
way such that, for example, patterns might emerge from the data.
➢ does not allow us to make conclusions beyond the data analyzed or reach conclusions regarding any
hypotheses we might have created.
➢ simply a way to describe our data.
2. Inferential Statistics
➢ techniques that allow us to use these samples to make generalizations about the populations from
which the samples were drawn.
➢ It is vital that the sample accurately represents the population.

What is Population? Sample?

Population - the collection of all possible observations of a specified

characteristic of interest.
Sample- is a subset of the population; a collection of some elements in a Population.
Example:
• The researcher would like to determine the average age of junior high
students enrolled at FBC.
Population: a set of all Senior high students enrolled at FBC
Sample: some of the Senior hig students enrolled at FBC
50 senior hig students enrolled at FBC

Data – information gathered about the sample or the population

Kinds of Data
➢ Data obtained about a population are known as parameters.
➢ Data gathered about a sample are known as estimates or statistics.
Variable - an item of interest that can take on many different numerical values.
What are the Types of Variables or Data?
Qualitative Variables - are non-numeric variables and cannot be measured.
Examples:
sex- male and female;
attitude –favorable and not favorable;
emotional condition – happy or sad
Quantitative Variables- are numerical variables and can be measured.
Examples:
include balance in your checking account,
number of children in the family.

Quantitative variables are either:

Discrete-which can assume only certain values, and there are usually
"gaps" between the values.
Examples: number of students, number of cars
Continuous - which can assume any value within a specific range,
Examples: such as the air pressure in a tire, length, weight
What are the Types of Variables According to its Function?
Independent Variable –the "assumed cause" of a problem; assumed reason
for a change
Dependent Variable – the "assumed effect" of another variable
Example: Exposure to Mass Media and Smoking Habits Among
Young Adults"
Independent Variable – Exposure to Mass Media
Dependent – Smoking Habits

What are the Scales of Measurement?

A variable has one of four different levels of measurement: Nominal,
Ordinal, Interval, or Ratio. (Interval and Ratio levels of measurement are sometimes called Continuous or
Scale).
1. Nominal Data - In this level of measurement, the numbers in the variable are
used only to classify the data.
Examples:
Sex – male or female
Marital Status- Single, Married, Widow, Widower, Separated

2. Ordinal or Rank Data- This level of measurement depicts some ordered relationship among the variable's
observations. The ordinal level of measurement indicates an ordering of the measurements. Numbers are used
to rank.

3. Interval Data- The interval level of measurement not only classifies and orders the measurements, but it also
specifies that the distances between each interval on the scale are equivalent along the scale from low interval to
high interval. It has no true zero values.

Examples:

an interval level of measurement could be the measurement of anxiety in a student between the score of 10 and
11, this interval is the same as that of a student who scores between 40 and 41

A popular example of this level of measurement is temperature in centigrade, where, for example, the distance
between 940C and 960C is the same as the distance between 1000C and 1020C.

4. Ratio Data- Is the highest level of measurement and allows for all basic arithmetic operations, including
division and multiplication. Data measured on a ratio scale have a fixed or non arbitrary zero point.

Examples:

height, age

In the ratio level of measurement, the divisions between the points on the scale have an equivalent distance
between them. The ratio scale is exactly the same as the interval scale with one major difference: zero is
meaningful.

References:

Uy, C., Cabauatan R., De Castro, B., Grajo, J., (2016). Practical Research 2. C &E Publishing, Inc.