Introduction to Statistics

Daw Thwe Thwe Aye

M.Com (MEUE)
Lecturer

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Introduction to Statistics
• The aim of this unit is to provide students with an
understanding of how management information and decision
making

• To learn about a range of statistical techniques and how they

can inform management thinking

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Learning Outcomes
1. Evaluate business and economic data/information obtained
from published sources.

2. Analyze and evaluate raw business data using a number of

statistical methods.

3. Apply statistical methods in business planning.

4. Communication findings using appropriate charts/tables.

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Statistics
Statistics is the science of collecting, organizing, analyzing and
interpreting data in order to make a decision.

• Descriptive statistics

• Inferential statistics

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Inferential Statistics
Applications in Business and Economics

• Accounting
Public accounting firms use statistical sampling procedures
when conducting audits for their clients.

• Finance
Financial advisors use a variety of statistical information,
including price-earnings ratios and dividend yields, to guide
their investment recommendations.

• Marketing
Electronic point-of-sale scanners at retail checkout counters
are being used to collect data for a variety of marketing
research applications.
Applications in Business and Economics

• Production
A variety of statistical quality control charts are used to
monitor the output of a production process.

• Economics
Economists use statistical information in making forecasts
about the future of the economy or some aspect of it.
Elements, Variables, and Observations
• Elements/ individuals: the entities on which data are collected.
• Variable: a characteristic of interest for the elements.
• Observation: the set of measurements collected for a particular
element.
• Data set: all the data collected in a particular study.

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Elements, Variables, and Observations
(Continued)
Observation
Variables
Stock Annual Earn/
Company Exchange Sales($M) Sh.($)
Dataram AMEX 73.10 0.86
EnergySouth OTC 74.00 1.67
Keystone NYSE 365.70 0.86
LandCare NYSE 111.40 0.33
Psychemedics AMEX 17.60 0.13

Elements Data Set Datum 10

 Types of Data
Data

Qualitative/ Quantitative/
Categorical data Numerical data

Nominal Ordinal Discrete Continuous

data data data data

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Types of Data

Quantitative data: based on number.

(Ages, length, high, weight,…)

Qualitative data: based on categorical.

(Gender, blood types, colours,…)
Discrete Data Continuous Data

 Can be counted.  Cannot be counted.

 Cannot be measured.  Can be measured.
 Impossible to divide the values.  Infinite number of possible values.

Bar Graph is used. Histograms are used.

Examples Examples
 Numbers of books  Weight of a new born baby
 Number of people  Body temperature
 Number of cars  Speed of a horse
 Number of dogs/cats  High of a tree
 Levels of Measurement
Data

Qualitative/
Quantitative
Categorical

Interval Ratio
Nominal Ordinal
(Discrete) (Continuous)

Levels of Measurement
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Level of Measurement
Nominal (Continued)
Data are labels or names used to identify an attribute of the element.
A nonnumeric label or a numeric code may be used.
Eg. gender, city name, position

Gender: 1 = Male, 2 = Female (no real meaning)

Ordinal
The data have the properties of nominal data and the order or rank of the
data is meaningful.
A nonnumeric label or a numeric code may be used.
Eg. education level, quality ranking

1 = First Prize, 2 = Second Prize, 3 = Third Prize (meaningful order)

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Level of Measurement
(Continued)
Interval
The data have the properties of ordinal data and the interval between
observations is expressed in terms of a fixed unit of measure.
Interval data are always numeric.

Ratio
The data have all the properties of interval data and the ratio of two values is
meaningful.
This scale must contain a zero value.
Eg. distance, height, weight, age and time

https://youtu.be/kNARs2oeuk0
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Cross-Sectional and Time Series Data
Cross-sectional data are collected at the same or approximately the same
point in time.
• Example: electricity bill rate of last month in 7 Myanmar States, pass rate
of ten private business schools in Academic Year 2018-2019 and mobile
data roaming of the students within one week.

Time series data are collected over several time periods.

Example: firm’s sales, market share, debt/ equity ratio, employee
absenteeism, inventory turnover

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