Biostatistics

Unit-I: Introduction
Basic Concepts : Definitions
• What is statistics?
◊ Statistics is a field of study concerned with:

− Collection, organization, summarization and analysis of data.

− Drawing of inferences about a body of data when only a part of the data is
observed.

◊ Statistical methods: it refers to a body of methods used for collecting, organising,

analyzing and interpreting numerical data for understanding a phenomenon or
making wise decisions.

◊ Statistics help us use numbers to communicate ideas

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What is Biostatistics?
• It is the application of statistical methods to biological and medical data.

• Its the use of statistics to biomedical and public health data.

• Biology includes numerous fields, such as ecology, fisheries, and agriculture.

• Bio is taken from the Greek word bios, meaning “life”.

• Statistical methods include procedures for

◊ Designing studies

◊ Collecting data

◊ Presenting and summarizing data, and

◊ Drawing inferences from sample data to a population. 09/21/2021 3

Statistical data
• It refers to numerical descriptions of things.

• The raw material of statistics is data.

• We may define data as figures.

◊ Figures result from the process of counting or from taking a measurement.

• For example:
◊ When a hospital administrator counts the number of patients (counting).

◊ When a nurse weighs a patient (measurement)

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Population vs Sample
• Population
◊ It is the largest collection of values of a random variable for which we have an
interest at a particular time.

◊ Populations may be finite or infinite.

◊ Example: The weights of all the children enrolled in a certain school.

• Sample
◊ It is a part of a population.

◊ Example: The weights of only a fraction of these children.

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Statistic vs Parameter
• Statistic or estimate
◊ A descriptive measure(s) computed from the data of a sample.

◊ It is a numerical quantity calculated from a sample, which describes a particular

feature.

◊ It is always an estimate of the true value.

− Eg: the mean, the median, the maximum

• Parameter
◊ A descriptive measure computed from the data of a population.

◊ The true quantities of the population are called parameters.

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Variable
• It is a characteristic that takes on different values in different persons, or things.

• Characteristic or attribute that can assume different values.

• For example:
◊ Heart rate

◊ The heights of adult males

◊ The weights of preschool children

◊ The ages of patients seen in a dental clinic.

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 Types of Variables
Quantitative
• It can be measured in the usual sense.
For example:
• The heights of adult males,
• The weights of preschool children
• The ages of patients seen in a dental
clinic.
Qualitative
• Many characteristics are not capable
of being measured.
• Some of them can be ordered (called
ordinal) and some of them can’t be
ordered (called nominal).
For example:
• Classification of people into socio-
economic groups, hair09/21/2021
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Discrete and Continuous variable
• Discrete data
◊ Discrete data take on only a finite or countable (set of integers) number of values.

◊ e.g. Number of new AIDS cases reported, number of beds

• Continuous data
◊ Represent measurable quantities but are not restricted to taking on certain specific
values ,i.e. fractional values are possible.

◊ Continuous data can take on any real value in an interval or over the whole real
number line.

◊ Examples: weight, cholesterol level, time, temperature

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 Variable
10

Types Qualitative Quantitative

of or categorical measurement
variables

Nominal Ordinal Discrete Continuous

(not ordered) (ordered) (count data) (real-valued)
e.g. ethnic e.g. response e.g. # of e.g. height
group to treatment admissions

Measurement scales
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Statistical Methods

• Descriptive • Inferential
◊ Methods of summarizing and ◊ Drawing conclusions about a
tabulating data that make their population based on a sample and a
main features more transparent. known or assumed sampling

◊ E.g. Calculating means and variances distribution.

and plotting histograms. ◊ E.g. Estimation, hypothesis tests.

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 B io s t a t is t ic s

D e s c r ip t iv e S t a t is t ic s I n f e r e n t ia l S t a t is t ic s

c o lle c t io n m a k in g i n f e r e n c e s
o r g a n iz in g h y p o t h e s is t e s t in g
s u m m a r iz in g d e t e r m i n in g r e l a t i o n s h ip
p r e s e n t in g o f d a ta m a k in g th e p r e d ic t io n

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1. Descriptive statistics
• Ways of organizing and summarizing data

• Identify the general features and trends in a set of data and extracting useful
information.

• Also very important in conveying the final results of a study.

• Example: Tables, graphs, numerical summary measures

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2. Inferential statistics
• Methods used for drawing conclusions about a population based on the
information obtained from a sample of observations drawn from that population.

• Example: estimation, Confidence Interval, hypothesis testing, etc.

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Rationale of Studying Statistics
• Statistics provides a way of organizing information on a wider and more formal
basis (than relying on past history for learning the present and future) and making
wise decisions.

• More things are measured quantitatively in medicine and public health.

• Statistics pervades the literature.

◊ As a consequence of the increasingly quantitative nature of public health and
medicine and its reliance in statistical methodology, the medical literature is
replete with reports in which statistical techniques are used extensively.

◊ Therefore, it is necessary to make familiarize with statistical techniques in order

to understand the relevant literature and to undertake own research work.
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Importance of Statistics
• Provide a way of organizing information

• Assessment of health status

• Resource allocation

• Health program evaluation

• Magnitude of association
◊ Strong vs weak association between exposure and outcome

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Importance of Statistics…
• Assessing risk factors
◊ Cause & effect relationship

• Evaluation of a new vaccine or drug

◊ What can be concluded if the proportion of people free from the disease is greater
among the vaccinated than the unvaccinated?

◊ How effective is the vaccine (drug)?

◊ Is the effect due to chance or some bias?

• Drawing of inferences
◊ Information from sample to population
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Limitations of Statistics
• It deals with only those subjects of inquiry that are capable of being quantitatively
measured and numerically expressed.

• It deals on aggregates of facts and no importance is attached to individual items -

only if group characteristics are desired to be studied.

• Statistical data are only approximately and not mathematically correct.

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Scales of Measurement
• Measurement: the assignment of numbers to objects or events according to a set
of rules.

• All data may be measured according to four measurement scales.

• Health workers should be aware of these four levels of measurements since the
type of measurement scale determines the type of statistical analysis to be used.

• Measurement at its simplest level exists when a name, a number, or other symbol
is used to assign subjects to specified category of a given variable.

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Scales of Measurement…
• The scale of measurement determines which statistical calculations are
meaningful.

• Depending on their nature, variables can be measured in four different scales.

Least Quantitative
Nominal
to
4 Scales of Measurement
Ordinal
Interval Highly Quantitative
Ratio

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1. Nominal Scales of Measurement
• Lowest level of measurement scale (least quantifiable)

• Used to measure categorical or qualitative variable.

• Data that represent categories and names

• No mathematical computations can be made at this level

• Each item must fit into exactly one category.

• The term nominal refers to qualitative data that do not have a natural ordering.

• Examples: Sex, eye color, place of residence , race

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2. Ordinal Scales of Measurement
• It is a categorical variable whose categories are ordered either from low to high or
from high to low so that the subjects are ranked.

◊ Categories can be logically ordered.

• The spaces or intervals between the categories are not necessarily equal.
◊ Differences between data entries are not meaningful.

• Examples:
◊ Severity of disease: healthy, mild, moderate, severe

◊ Anxiety : ‘none’, ‘mild’, ‘moderate’ and ‘severe’

◊ Income level: low, middle, high

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3. Interval Scales of Measurement
• On an interval scale, measurements are not only classified and ordered therefore
having the properties of the two previous scales, but the distances between each
interval on the scale are equal right along the scale from the low end to the high
end.

• When you measure temperature in centigrade the distance between 0 and 10°C is
the same as between 90 and 100.

• What you must remember though is that for interval scales, a measurement of
100°C does not mean that the temperature is 10 times hotter than something
measuring 10°C even though the value given on the scale is 10 times as large.

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3. Interval Scales of Measurement
• That's because there is no absolute zero, the zero is arbitrary. On the centigrade
temperature scale, the zero value is taken as the point at which water freezes and
the 100°C value when water begins to boil and between these extreme values the
scale is divided into a 100 equal divisions.

• Temperatures below 0°C are designated negative numbers. So the arbitrary 0°C
does not mean 'no temperature'. But when expressed on the kelvin scale, a ratio
scale, a measure of 0K equivalent to -273°C does indeed mean no temperature!

• One observable pitfall of the interval scale is that the absence of a true zero point,
that is, the zero point on the scale does not represent the absence of the quantity
being measured.
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Interval Scales of Measurement…
• Data at the interval level of measurement are truly quantitative.

• It is possible to categorize, rank and tell the real distance between any two
measurements.

• A zero entry simply represents a position on a scale; the entry is not an inherent
zero.

• Data entries can be arranged in order, the differences between data entries can be
calculated.

• Data values can not be expressed as a ratio/multiple of another.

• Examples: Temperature, IQ, Altitude

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4. Ratio Scales of Measurement…
• It is the highest level of measurement characterized by the fact that both the equality
of ratios as well as equality of intervals may be determined.

• The ratio scale measurement begins at a true zero point and the scale also has equal
intervals.

• Ratio scale data is purely quantitative.

• Data at the ratio level of measurement are similar to the interval level, but a zero
entry is meaningful.

• A ratio of two data values can be formed so one data value can be expressed as a
ratio.

• Examples: Age ,grade point average, weight, temperature on the kelvin scale 26
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Summary of Scales of Measurement
Level of Data putted in Data Data values Data value can be expressed
measurement categories arranged in subtracted as a ratio /multiple of another
order two

Nominal Yes No No No

Ordinal Yes Yes No No

Interval Yes Yes Yes No

Ratio Yes Yes Yes Yes

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Summary of Scales of Measurement…
• Typically, different statistical methods are appropriate for variables of different scales.

Scale Characteristic Question Examples

Nominal Is A different than B? Marital status, Eye color, Race

Gender, Religious affiliation

Ordinal Is A bigger than B? Stage of disease, Severity of pain

Level of satisfaction

Interval By how many units do A and B differ? Temperature

SAT score

Ratio How many times bigger than B is A? Distance, Length

Time until death, Weight

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Summary of Scales of Measurement…
• Operations that make sense for variables of different scales:

Scale Operations that make sense

Addition/ Multiplication/
Counting Ranking
Subtraction Division

Nominal √
Ordinal √ √
Interval √ √ √
Ratio √ √ √ √

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Exercises
• Give the correct scales of measurement for each variable

• Blood group ...............................

• Temperature (Celsius) ...............

• Hair colour ................................

• Job satisfaction index (1-5).........

• Number of heart attacks .............

• Calendar year ...........................

• Serum uric acid (mg/100ml)..........

• Number of accidents in a 3 - year period....

• Number of cases of each reportable disease reported by a health worker.......

• The average weight gain of 6, 1-year old dogs with a special diet supplement was 950 grams last month...

• Ethnic group.......................... 09/21/2021 30

THANK YOU

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