Section 1.

1
Statistics

Statistics :
Is the science of conducting studies to
collect, organize, summarize, analyze
and draw conclusions from data.
 Descriptive & Inferential
Statistics
Descriptive Statistics :
consists of the collection, organization,
summarization and presentation of data.

Inferential Statistics :
consists of generalizing from samples to
population, performing estimation and
hypothesis tests, determining relationships
among variable, and making predictions.
Population :
consists of all subjects (human or otherwise)
that are being studied.

Sample : Population
is a group of subjects
selected from population.

Sample
Read the following and answer the questions :

A study conducted at a Community College revealed

that students who attended class 95 to 100% of the
time usually received an A in the class. Students who
attended class 80 – 90% of the time usually received a
B or C in the class. Students who attended less than
80% of the time usually received a D or an F or
eventually withdrew from the class.
Based on this information, attendance and grades are
related. The more you attend class, the more likely
you will receive a higher grade.
 Attendance and Grades
1. What are the variables under study?

The variable are grades and attendance.

2. What are the data in the study?

The data is consist of specific grades and

attendance number.
3. Are descriptive, inferential, or both types of
statistics used?
These are descriptive statistic.
4. What is the population under study?
The population under study is students at
a community college .

5. Was a sample collected? If so, from where?

While not specified, we probably have data
from a sample of a community college
students.
6. From the information given, comment on the
relationship between the variables.
Based on the data, it appears that in
general, the better you attendance the
higher your grade.
 Section 1.2
Variable and Types of Data

Variable :
Is a characteristic or attribute that can
assume different values.
The classification of variables can be
summarized as follow:

Data

Qualitative Quantitative

Discrete Continuous
 Classification of Variables
Qualitative Variable: are variables that can be placed into
distinct categories, according to some characteristics or
attributes.
Example :
If subjects are classified according to gender(male or female),
then the variable here is gender which is
qualitative. Other examples is geographic locations, eye color,
hair color.

Quantitative Variable: are numerical and can be ordered or

ranked.
Example :
The variable age is numerical, and people can be ranked
according to value of their ages. Other variables like height,
weight are also Quantitative variable.
 Variable and Types of Data

Discrete Variable:
Assume values that can be counted.

Continuous Variable:
Can assume an infinite number of values
between any two specific values. They are
obtained by measuring. They often include
fractions and decimals.
Measurement level for each variable
1) Nominal level of measurement :
classifies data into mutually exclusive
(non-overlapping), exhausting categories
in which no order or ranking can be
imposed on the data.

- Examples:
Zip code, Gender, Eye color, Political
affiliation, Religious affiliation, Major field,
Nationality.
2) Ordinal level of measurement :
classifies data into categories that can
be ranked; however, precise differences
between the ranks do not exist.

- Examples:
Grade (A,B,C,D,F), Judging (first place,
second place), Rating scale (poor, good,
excellent), Ranking of tennis player.
3) Interval level of measurement :
Ranks data, and precise differences
between units of measure do exist;
however, there is no meaningful zero.

- Examples:
SAT score, IQ, Temperature.
4) Ratio level of measurement :
Possesses all the characteristics of
interval measurement, and there exists a
true zero. In addition, true ratios exist
when the same variable is measured on
two different members of the population.

- Examples:
Height, Weight, Time, Salary, Age.
Read the following information about the
transportation industry and answer the
questions :
Transportation safety
The chart shows the number of job-related injuries for
each of the transportation industries for 1998 :

Industry Number of injuries

Railroad 4520
Intercity bus 5100
Subway 6850
Trucking 7144
Airline 9950
 Safe Travel
1. What are the variables under study?
The variable are industry and job-related
injuries.
2. Categorize each variable as quantitative or
qualitative.
The type of industry is a qualitative variable,
while the number of job-related injuries is
quantitative.
3. Categorize each quantitative variable as discrete
or continuous?
The number of job-related injuries is discrete.
4. Identify the level of measurement for each variable.
Type of industry is nominal, and the number
job-related injuries is ratio.

5. The railroad is shown as the safest

transportation industry. Does that mean railroads
have fewer accidents than the other industries?
Explain.
The railroads do show fewer job-related
injuries; however, there may be other things
to consider. For example, railroads employ
fewer people than the other transportation
industries in the study.
6. What factors other than safety influence a
person’s choice of transportation?
A person’s choice of transportation might
also be affected by convenience issue, cost,
service, etc.
7. From the information given, comment on the
relationship between variables.
Answers will vary. One possible answer is that
the railroads have the fewest job-related
injuries, while the airline industry has the most
job-related injuries (more than twice those of
railroad industry). The numbers of job-related
injuries in the subway and trucking are fairly
comparable.
 6. Why was the method more appropriate for this type of
data collection?
This method allowed me to make sure that I had
representation from each area of the united state.

7. If a convenience sample were obtained, consisting of

only adolescence, how would the results of the study
be affected?
Convenience samples may not be representative of the
population, and convenience sample of adolescents would
probably differ greatly from the general population with
regard to the influence of American culture on illegal drug
use.
 Exercises Page 26
Q 7, 8, 9 , 10