CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Flashcards
1.1 Basic Concepts 1.2 Fields of Statistics 1.3 Steps in a Statistical Inquiry
Statistics in a branch of science that?
deals with the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data.
What is a statistical inquiry?
a designed research that provides information needed to solve a research problem
How to perform a statistical inquiry?
- identify the problem
- plan the study
- collect the data
- explore the data
- analyze the data and interpret the results
- present the results
It is the collection of all elements under consideration in a statistical inquiry
population
It is the subset of a population
sample
what is a variable?
characteristic or attribute of the elements in a collection that can assume different values for the different elements
It is the realized value of a variable
observation
It is the collection of observations
data
what is a summary measure?
single numeric figure that describes a particular feature of the whole collection
what are the two types of summary measure
statistic and parameter
describe statistic
a summary measure describing a specific characteristic of the sample
it is a summary measure describing a specific characteristic of the population
parameter
two major fields of statistics
applied statistics & theoretical/mathematical statistics
2 sub-branches of applied statistics
descriptive and inferential
this field in statistics is concerned with the procedures and techniques used in the COAIP of data
applied statistics
a field in statistics concerned with the development of the mathematical foundations of the methods used in applied statistics
theoretical/mathematical statistics
describe descriptive statistics
all the techniques used in organizing, summarizing, and presenting the data on hand (uses charts, summary measures, etc.)
includes all the techniques used in analyzing the sample data that leads to generalizations about a population from which a sample came from
inferential statistics
general objectives of a statistical inquiry
- Describe characteristics of the population.
- Compare characteristics of different subgroups.
- Justify assertions about population characteristics.
- Determine relationships among variables.
- Identify inter-related groups of variables.
- Reveal natural groupings based on variable values.
- Determine effects of variables on a response variable.
- Clarify patterns and trends over time or space.
- Predict values based on relationships with other variables.
- Forecast future values using past observations.
These are the units whose characteristics will be observed and measured by researchers.
Elements
Why can’t descriptive statistics be used to make generalizations about the population?
Because the data on hand is simply sample data.
What is a key aspect of conclusions drawn from inferential statistics?
Conclusions are subject to some error due to the use of partial information.
How does probability theory relate to inferential statistics?
It helps us understand the possible errors that can be committed.
It is called processed data
Information