Basic Definitions

Statistics: statistics is the science of data. This

involves collecting, classifying, summarizing,
organizing, analyzing, and interpreting data.

Experimental unit: an experimental unit is an

object (person or thing) upon which we collect
data.

Experiment: an experiment is the process of

making an observation. It can in general be
thought of as referring to any process or
procedure for which more than one outcome is
possible.
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 Basic definitions:
Quantitative Data: Quantitative data are observations
measured on a numerical scale, e.g. height, weight, sales,
production.
Qualitative Data: Non numerical data that can be classified
into one of a group of categories are said to be qualitative data,
e.g. race, color.
Population: A population is a collection (or set) of data that
describe some phenomenon of interest to you. Population
consists of the totality of the observations with which we are
concerned.
Sample: A sample is a subset of data selected from a
population. Samples are collected from populations that are
collections of all individuals or individual items of a particular
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Parameters: Numerical descriptive measures of a population
are called parameters. For example, it may be a population
mean/ variance.
Sample Statistic: A sample statistic is a quantity calculated
from the observations in a sample. For example, it may be a
sample mean, a sample variance.
Discrete variable: When a variable can assume only isolated
values, it is called a discrete variable, e. g. No of children in a
family.
Continuous variable: A variable is said to be continuous if it
can theoretically assume any value within a given range or
ranges, e.g. height of a person.

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 Variables and Data
• A variable is a characteristic that
changes or varies over time and/or for
different individuals or objects under
consideration.
• Examples: Hair color, white blood cell
count, time to failure of a computer
component.

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 Definitions
• An experimental unit is the
individual or object on which a
variable is measured.
• A measurement results when a
variable is actually measured on an
experimental unit.
• A set of measurements, called data,
can be either a sample or a
population.
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 Example
• Variable
– Time until a
light bulb burns out
• Experimental unit
– Light bulb
• Typical Measurements
– 1500 hours, 1535.5 hours, etc.
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How many variables have
you measured?
• Univariate data: One variable is
measured on a single experimental unit.
• Bivariate data: Two variables are
measured on a single experimental unit.
• Multivariate data: More than two
variables are measured on a single
experimental unit.
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Types of Variables

Qualitative Quantitative

Discrete Continuous

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 Types of Variables
•Qualitative variables measure a quality
or characteristic on each experimental
unit.
•Examples:
•Hair color (black, brown, blonde…)
•Make of car (Dodge, Honda, Ford…)
•Gender (male, female)
•State of birth (California, Arizona,….)
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 Types of Variables
•Quantitative variables measure a
numerical quantity on each experimental
unit.
Discrete if it can assume only a
finite or countable number of values.
Continuous if it can assume the
infinitely many values corresponding
to the points on a line interval.
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 Examples
• For each orange tree in a grove, the number
of oranges is measured.
– Quantitative discrete
• For a particular day, the number of cars
entering a college campus is measured.
– Quantitative discrete
• Time until a light bulb burns out
– Quantitative continuous
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 Data Representation:
Data can be represented in two ways:
1. Statistical Tables
2. Statistical Charts
Statistical Tables: Classification
1.Geographical point of view
2.Chronological point of view
3.Qualitative point of view
4.Quantative point of view

Statistical Tables: Tabulation

1.Table No,
2.Title
3.Stub
4.Caption
5.Body of the table
6.Foot note
7. Source

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 Data representation:
Data can be represented in two ways:
Statistical Tables: Frequency Distribution
1.Class
2.Class Boundary
3.Tally Marks
4.Frequency
5.Cumulative Frequency
6.Relative Frequency
Statistical Charts
 Histogram
 Frequency Polygon
 Frequency Curve
 Ogive
 Bar Diagram
 Pie-Chart Copyright ©2003 Brooks/Cole
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Graphing Qualitative Variables
• Use a data distribution to describe:
– What values of the variable have
been measured
– How often each value has occurred
• “How often” can be measured 3 ways:
– Frequency
– Relative frequency = Frequency/n
– Percent = 100 x Relative frequency
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 Example
• A bag of M&M®s contains 25 candies:
m m m m m m
• Raw Data: m m m m
m m m m m m m m m m
m m m m m
• Statistical Table:
Color Tally Frequency Relative Percent
Frequency
Red mmmmm 5 5/25 = .20 20%
Blue mmm 3 3/25 = .12 12%
Green mm 2 2/25 = .08 8%
Orange mmm 3 3/25 = .12 12%
Brown mm mm m m mm 8 8/25 = .32 32%
Yellow mmmm 4 4/25 = .16 16%
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 Graphs
Bar Chart

Pie Chart

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Graphing Quantitative Variables
• A single quantitative variable measured for
different population segments or for
different categories of classification can be
graphed using a pie or bar chart.
chart

AABig
BigMac
Machamburger
hamburger
costs
costs$3.64
$3.64in
in
Switzerland,
Switzerland,$2.44
$2.44in
in
the
theU.S.
U.S.and
and$1.10
$1.10inin
South
SouthAfrica.
Africa.

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• A single quantitative variable measured
over time is called a time series.
series It can be
graphed using a line or bar chart.
chart
CPI: All Urban Consumers-Seasonally Adjusted
September October November December January February March
178.10 177.60 177.50 177.30 177.60 178.00 178.60

BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

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Applet
Dotplots
• The simplest graph for quantitative data
• Plots the measurements as points on a
horizontal axis, stacking the points that
duplicate existing points.
• Example: The set 4, 5, 5, 7, 6

4 5 6 7

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 Stem and Leaf Plots
• A simple graph for quantitative data
• Uses the actual numerical values of each data
point.
––Divide
Divide eacheach measurement
measurement into into two
two parts:
parts: the the stem
stem
and
and the
the leaf.
leaf.
––List
List the
the stems
stems inin aa column,
column, with
with aa vertical
vertical line line to to
their
their right.
right.
––For
For each
each measurement,
measurement, recordrecord the
the leaf
leaf portion
portion in in
the
the same
same rowrow asas its
its matching
matching stem.
stem.
––Order
Order the the leaves
leaves from
from lowest
lowest toto highest
highest in in each
each
stem.
stem.
––Provide
Provide aa keykey toto your
your coding.
coding. Copyright ©2003 Brooks/Cole
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 Example
The prices ($) of 18 brands of walking shoes:
90 70 70 70 75 70 65 68 60
74 70 95 75 70 68 65 40 65

4 0 4 0
Reorder
5 5

6 580855 6 055588

7 000504050 7 000000455

8 8

9 05 9 05
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 Interpreting Graphs:
Location and Spread

•• Where
Where isis the
the data
data centered
centered on
on the the
horizontal
horizontal axis,
axis, and
and how
how does
does itit spread
spread
out
out from
from the
the center?
center? Copyright ©2003 Brooks/Cole
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Interpreting Graphs: Shapes
Mound shaped and
symmetric (mirror images)

Skewed right: a few

unusually large
measurements
Skewed left: a few unusually
small measurements

Bimodal: two local peaks

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 Example
• A quality control process measures the diameter of a
gear being made by a machine (cm). The technician
records 15 diameters, but inadvertently makes a typing
mistake on the second entry.
1.991 1.891 1.991 1.988
1.993 1.989 1.990
1.988
1.988 1.993 1.991 1.989
1.989 1.993 1.990
1.994

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 Example
The ages of 50 tenured faculty at a
state university.
• 34 48 70 63 52 52 35 50 37 43 53 43 52 44
• 42 31 36 48 43 26 58 62 49 34 48 53 39 45
• 34 59 34 66 40 59 36 41 35 36 62 34 38 28
• 43 50 30 43 32 44 58 53

• We choose to use 6 intervals.

• Minimum class width = (70 – 26)/6 = 7.33
• Convenient class width = 8
• Use 6 classes of length 8, starting at 25.
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Age Tally Frequency Relative Percent
Frequency
25 to < 33 1111 5 5/50 = .10 10%
33 to < 41 1111 1111 1111 14 14/50 = .28 28%
41 to < 49 1111 1111 111 13 13/50 = .26 26%
49 to < 57 1111 1111 9 9/50 = .18 18%
57 to < 65 1111 11 7 7/50 = .14 14%
65 to < 73 11 2 2/50 = .04 4%

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Describing the
Distribution

Shape? Skewed right

Outliers? No.
What proportion of the (14 + 5)/50 = 19/50 = .38
tenured faculty are younger
than 41?
What is the probability that a (8 + 7 + 2)/50 = 17/50 = .34
randomly selected faculty
member is 49 or older?
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